Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's current infrastructure is presenting an obstacle to the country's competitiveness; according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report for 2008-2009, Peru's infrastructure ranks 113th out of 134 countries assessed.

According to several press reports, the Peruvian government was planning to work on this with two major transportation infrastructure projects in the country, estimated to cost US$6.5 billion dollars in total.

The first project envisages creating a road network in the Callao and Lima regions in the western part of the country, with an investment of US$ 5 billion dollars.

The second project is the NorAndino railway project, which is supposed to cost US$1.5 billion dollars and will link the rich mining region of Cajamarca with Lambayeque and Piura, where the port of Bayovar is located, thus reducing transit costs and times for mining companies operating in the region.

However, according to Companiesandmarkets.com forecasts, Peru's transport and communications GDP will have risen by 2.2% in 2009, ahead of the 2.0% gain for the economy as a whole; the total value of transport and communications GDP will rise to US$2.76 billion in nominal terms by 2014, representing 8.6% of Peru's GDP.

The same webpage states that the transport and communications sector employed an estimated 742,500 people, or 8.5% of the labor force, in 2009, and they expect it will increase to 814,900 and 8.5% by 2014.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.