Green Corridor: more than S/12,000 million for a new Central Highway

Six years ago, the El Niño Costero phenomenon led the Government of Peter Paul Kuczynski to issue DS 008-2017 to complete and modernize the Central Highway, one hundred years after its foundation stone. In 2021, France took over the advice of the project through a Government-to-Government (G2G) agreement.

But in the meantime he commissioned the GORE Junin a study for the new line with highway characteristics, which was finally discarded in 2022 due to serious problems in its design. They went S / 7 million to the water.

The Gauls then prepared their own layout and are now awaiting the approval of the profile review by Provías Nacional for a work that they accept will exceed the S/11,571 million originally projected on a route that forks from the Ramiro Prialé road to La Oroya, called the Green Corridor.

According to the head of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (TCM), Paola Lazarte, will be known in June. “Yes, the work will be more expensive than S/12,000 million, since it has all the security elements of a first-rate mountain highway. A consolidated line has already been delivered within the G2G contract, which is much more than a normal profile There are environmental, topographic, geotechnical and archaeological studies. In June-July the final engineering study will be awarded,” explained Silmara de Assis, director of PMO Vías.

There are 5 large consortiums participating in the tender today: one Japanese-English, one Spanish-American and one Colombian, of which it was possible to know. Between July-August 2023 and the end of 2024, the final engineering study will be seen to begin the works in February-March 2025. The work would be ready in the first quarter of 2031.

And the Green Corridor? It is an area between 500 and 600 meters wide, within which the track will be located. The design is the product of a multicriteria analysis where 3 corridors and 11 lines were analyzed. The one that came out with the highest score was green, on which work is done under the fast track modality, which overlaps stages in the project.

He was chosen Oroya because 70% of the traffic to Lima goes through there from cities like Pasco and Pucallpa. Thus, the route between Ate and La Oroya will be covered in 2 hours and a half for light vehicles, and 3 hours for heavy vehicles.

the french route

But the College of Engineers of Peru (CIP) criticized the design, which ventures an investment figure that would climb to US$7,000 million (double), according to José Gutiérrez, member of the Transportation Committee of CD Lima. This, despite being a road “that is a variant and not a new road as required by law” and that crosses an area of ​​high risk of landslides in La Tinajas, something already denied by PMO roads.

It happens that GORE Lima was also commissioned, before the French landing, with a study, but it failed to land it and “remained in the socioeconomic part,” according to the MTC. For this reason, the Juninense folder was taken, far from the CIP idea of ​​starting at kilometer 50.5 (La Chutana) of the Panamericana Sur to reach Huancayo —and not La Oroya— with a lower cost. They request a reconsideration from the MTC.

The new Central Highway Daniel Alcides Carrión

The Central Road It is a project started in 1924. It supports the passage of about 28,000 vehicles a day. The MTC is responsible for approximately 50% of public investment. With this new project, six regions of the central country will be connected to the coast. Its feasibility is in pre-investment.

Logistics costs for truck transportation from the mountains will be reduced by 10%, thus improving supply in wholesale markets. The new route will be technically integrated with the future projects of the Chancay Megaport, La Oroya Avoidance, Río Blanco, Northern Peripheral Road Ring, etc.

France is responsible for some of the world’s most ambitious road infrastructure projects, including the Himalayas.

The word

Silmara de Assis, PMO Vias director

“This is one of the biggest projects of the decade in Latin America and one of the 3 largest in the world right now. A challenge that France feels honored about”.