The Capricorn hub consists of a swath of territory that runs along the Tropic of Capricorn, located between 20 and 30 degrees South latitude. It includes important port facilities on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, accounting for its bi-oceanic nature, and covers large parts of southern Brazil, southern Paraguay, northern Argentina, and northern Chile. The hub has approximately 24.5 million inhabitants, with an average population density of 14 inhabitants per km2. Urban populations account for 75% of the total.
The Capricorn hub currently contains 34 IIRSA projects, divided into 4 project clusters. At the time of IIRSA’s creation, the total estimated cost of the projects in the hub was $2.0 billion. Terrestrial transport projects (road and rail) predominate in the project clusters.
For IIRSA, the Capricorn hub’s developmental potential is based on the balanced nature of the sectors and industries represented in the region (energy, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.). There are expressions of satisfaction with the hub’s “consolidated situation” in terms of human settlement, economic productivity, land use, and infrastructure development. However, IIRSA aims to improve the flow of goods and services from coast to coast. Similarly, it aims to improve regional competitiveness, mainly by lowering the cost of east-west electricity transmission in northern Argentina.