The expansion and improvement of Paraguay's routes 2 and 7 will be the first infrastructure project to be carried out as a public-private partnership (PPP) under the country's recently-passed PPP law.

Ramón Jiménez Gaona, Paraguay's Minister of Public Works, presented last week the Pre-Feasibility for the project to the Planning Technical Secretariat (SCT). The study as conducted with help of Korean Agency for International Cooperation (KOIKA).

A team composed of government officials from several departments will now review the studies. Before being tendered, the project will have to be declared of public interest by the Government.

Jiménez Gaona commented in March that the Government has prepared a Program of priority projects, as required by the new Law on PPPs.

According to local sources, he said:

"The new law requests that we define priority projects so that they can be identified by the private sector and may be subject to a private initiative."

The list of priority projects include:

• Expansion and improvement of routes 2 and 7
• Expansion and improvement of routes 1 and 6
• Ypacaraí - Asunción railway
• Paraguay's river waterway, between rivers Apa and Paraná
• Silvio Pettirossi airport modernization
• Asunción suburbs sewage project
• Lake Ypacaraí area project