The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$60,2 million loan to modernize its Joya Andina and Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza airports in Uyuni and Tarija, integrating regions, enhancing connectivity and boosting tourism in Bolivia.

The program aims to fund a study on the air freight import and export ecosystem, revitalize small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises, provide safe infrastructure services to the public and private airlines that use Bolivia’s airport system, close the gender gap in the air transport industry and create opportunities for people with disabilities. The program will allow the development of a regulatory proposal to open new international air routes, including a route between Peru and Uyuni to meet international demand in the passenger transportation market.

The program will work on adapting infrastructure to mitigate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency) certification. The loan from IDB has a grace period of 10.6 years, will be disbursed for 5 years, has a maturity of 24 years and the interest rate is based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).