Citizens ask Peruvian Government to Postpone Inter-Oceanic Highway

On Monday, the 1st of August, over 175 Peruvian citizens from all walks of life released a petition to the media regarding the construction of the Iñapari-Puerto Marítimo del Sur road, which forms part of the Peruvian portion of the Inter-Oceanic Highway, a key IIRSA project. The petition, which was signed by over 175 people, including academics, ex-ministers, economists and leaders of civil society, urges the Peruvian government not sign the contract to initiate construction of the Peruvian portion of the road without revising the project's controversial feasibility study. 

However, President Toledo announced on the 3rd of August that he will sign the contract with the consortium to initiate construction tomorrow (August 4, 2005) at 10:45 AM. The project's feasibility study has recently come under fire for being based upon faulty indicators and there are also claims that the project budget is greatly inflated- instead of the initial 892 million dollars that the road was supposed to cost, it is now estimated that total costs could reach 1.142 billion USD.