July 8, 2006
“The State must develop a special project for the Interoceanic Highway”
Yesterday at the Universidad del Pacífico, Marc Dourojeanni presented an investigation that exposes the problems and challenges of a project that has put one of the last untouched regions of Peru and all of South America in peril.
“One of the last relatively untouched regions of the Peruvian and South American Amazon could be destroyed by the construction of the Interoceanic Highway,” affirmed the agricultural engineer and environmental expert Marc J. Dourojeanni during the presentation of his “CASE STUDY ON THE INTEROCEANIC HIGHWAY IN THE SOUTHERN PERUVIAN AMAZON.”
In front of the more than 250 people that gathered in the Universidad del Pacífico auditorium, Dourojeanni made it clear that a project on such a grand scale as the Interoceanic Highway needs a state capable of supporting a special project that can reduce the environmental and social impacts the mega construction would bring.
“The Interoceanic demands action on the same scale as the investment project. Considering that the costs of construction approach $940 million, $17 million designated to reduce impact is insufficient,” asserted the renowned scholar.
Over more than 3 hours, panelists (including the Andean Finance Corporation, CAF’s Vice-President of Social and Environmental Development, Claudia Martínez), invited guests, and the general audience formed a space for reflection and high-level intellectual debate that highlighted the need to redefine the different strategies and policies still being developed to implement this project from the grassroots.
Perhaps the most important conclusion of the event was in the necessity and urgency of a regional plan of development oriented toward sustainable development and the application of balanced investments that provide the government with the institutional capacity to engender sustainable development within the law and promote and take advantage of the opportunities the highway will offer.
See summary of case study (Spanish):
Caso de Estudio Resumen [doc, 38 KB]
English version coming soon!