The Economist - UK (2022-04-30)

40 The Americas TheEconomistApril30th 2022

Paraguay

Highway through hell

T

he gran chaco, a vast sprawl of

swamp,  scrub  and  savannah  which

stretches  across  Brazil,  Bolivia,  Paraguay

and  Argentina,  has  long  been  hard  to  get

through.  In  the  16th  century  its  nomadic

hunters ambushed Spanish would­be con-

quistadors.  When  Bolivia  and  Paraguay

fought  over  the  “Green  Hell”  in  the  1930s,

thirst was thought to have killed more sol­

diers  than  bullets.  Until  2019  a  region  the

size  of  Austria  in  Paraguay’s  part  of  the

Chaco contained no paved roads at all. 

But earlier this year Paraguay’s govern­

ment  inaugurated  the  first  half  of  a  dual­

carriage  motorway  that  will  bisect  the  re­

gion for 544km (338 miles) east to west. It

forms the main part of the Bioceanic Road

Corridor,  an  infrastructure  project  talked

about for decades by the countries around

the  Chaco,  which  finally  seems  to  be  get­

ting off the ground. 

The  plan  is  that  the  road  will  connect

soyabean  farmers  in  Brazil  and  cattle

ranchers  in  landlocked  Paraguay  to  mar­

kets in Asia, by going through northern Ar­

gentina  and  on  to  Chile’s  ports.  Arnoldo

Wiens,  Paraguay’s  public­works  minister,

claims that compared with shipping goods

through  the  Panama  Canal,  the  corridor

will  save  the  Southern  Cone’s  agricultural

producers 14 days and $1,000 per contain­

er, or a third of their logistics costs. 

The  first  stage  of  the  road—a  276km

stretch  between  the  riverside  village  of

Carmelo Peralta and the town of Loma Pla­

ta—was  built  by  a  ccvb,  a  consortium

formedbyQueirozGalvão,a Braziliancon­

glomerate,andOchoa, a localcompany.It

wasbuiltontimeandwithinthebudgetof

$443m:a rarityincorruption­pronePara­

guay.Byearly 2024 a $103mbridgeshould

linkCarmeloPeraltatoBrazil,andthecor­

ridorwillreachtheArgentineborder.The

Trans­Chaco highway, a potholed road

runningnorthtoBolivia,isalsobeingwid­

enedandimproved.

MarioAbdoBenítez,Paraguay’spresi­

dentfromtheconservativeColoradoParty,

iskeentotakethecredit.Officialssaythat

nearly3,000kmofpavedroadshavebeen

builtsincehecametopowerin2018.That

isfarmorethananyofhispredecessors

managed,includingAlfredoStroessner,a

dictatorwhoruledfor 35 years.Yetmanyof

theseprojectswereenabledbylegislation

passedunderMrAbdoBenítez’spredeces­

sor,HoracioCartes,sayalliesofMrCartes.

Noteveryoneispleasedbytheasphalt.

Theroad­buildingfrenzy“deepensanun­

diversified,extractivistmodel”,warnsVe­

rónica Serafini, an economist.Beef and

soyabeansmakeupalmost70%ofPara­

guay’sgoodsexportsbyvalueandsupport

athird ofgdp. Ratherthan build more

megaprojects,thecountryshouldsupport

smallfarmersandinvestinbetterpublic

transportanddrainageinAsunción,the

flood­pronecapital,shethinks.Braziland

Argentinawillhavetoinvestinsomeroad­

workstooif thecorridoristolinkupseam­

lessly,concedesJuanRivarola,theproject’s

environmentalandsocialmanager.

ButforJulioPortillo,a truckdriver,the

new road is already making life easier.

ReachingCarmeloPeraltafromLomaPlata

usedtotake 12 hoursalongarutteddirt

track.Ifitrainedhewasmaroonedinthe

mudfordays.Itnowtakesfourhours.He

stillbringsa shotguntohuntcaimansand

peccaries,a kindofwildboar,toeatifhe

getsstranded.“TheParaguayanChacoisa

worldapart,”hesays.“Ifyougetstuck,no

oneiscomingtohelp.”

The impact ofthe new motorwayis

moreuncertainforlocalindigenouspeo­

ple,especiallythefewwhostillliveinthe

forests.“Iseebothsides,positiveandneg­

ative,”saysDemetrioPicanerei,anindige­

nousAyoreoteacherinthevillageofChai­

di.Beforehewasborn,hisparentsfledur­

banAyoreoneighbourhoodsinBoliviathat

wereravagedbydrugsandalcohol.Hewor­

riesthatthenewmotorway,andtheinev­

itabletruck­stops,motelsanddinersthat

will spring upalong it, willspread the

same“vices”.

Nobodyisgoingtoslowmedown

Another problem is deforestation. Be­

tween 1985 and 2013 theChacolosta fifthof

itssurfacearea.Treeshavebeenbulldozed

andburnt,mainlyforcropsandpasture.

Relativetoitssize itisshrinkingfaster

thantheAmazonrainforest.Manyendan­

geredjaguars,tapirsandgiantarmadillos

willsoonendupasroadkillortrophies,

worriesLuisRecalde,a conservationist.To

try to prevent this, the consortium of

builders has created 15 underpasses for

wildlife.Thecorridorhasalsobeenslightly

divertedattwoplacestoavoidpassingdi­

rectlythroughAyoreoland.

OfficialssaytheintegrationoftheCha­

cowiththerestofthecountryislongover­

due.Theareacoversnearlytwo­thirdsof

Paraguay’sterritorybutishometojust3%

ofits people. Hundredsof jobs will be

createdoncefleetsofBraziliantrucksstart

to thunder through,Mr Wienspredicts.

Even MrPicanerei concedes thatitwill

makegettingtothehospitaleasier.“The

roadswereveryuglybefore,”hesays. n

CHAIDI

A new motorway could one day rival the PanamaCanal

Trans-Chaco

highway

Bioceanic

RoadCorridor

(underdevelopment)

PA R AG UAY

Asunción

Carmelo

Peralta

Loma

Plata

Chaidi

Amazon rainforest

Gran Chaco

Paraguayan

Chaco

ARGENTINA

BOLIVIA BRAZIL

C

HIL

E

300 km Sources: IDB; MapBiomas