[170918.EN.BIZ] Latin America Target of Belt and Road Infrastructure Investment

LATIN American countries are becoming a natural extension of the 21st century maritime Silk Road, which is part of China's One Belt One Road, as demonstrated by the ambitious investment project of China's Landbridge Group to expand Panama's largest port of Margarita Island into a global container hub.

Following its upgrade, the Atlantic port at the mouth of the Panama Canal will become the only port there to boast 150,000-ton container berths, reported Xinhua news agency.

The port located in Panama's Colon free trade zone will boast three berths designated for super-Panamax ships and have an annual handling capacity of five million TEU when the first phase of the project is completed, rising to a total capacity of 11 million TEU upon completion of the expansion project.

For Argentine engineer Federico Carrera, it is very good to see new trains running fast on new tracks in the pampas lowlands of Argentina.

"Cooperation with China is helping the country out of its plight and I think upgrading the rail transport system is the first step to facilitate trade. This is a shortcut to bring back the good old times," said Mr Carrera.

In Argentina, the obsolete railways linking the grain-producing areas and ports have proved inferior to trucks in transporting big cargoes. The high cost has made Argentina's agricultural products less competitive.

In 2011 the Argentine government announced a plan to upgrade the national railway system. In 2013, China Machinery Engineering Corporation signed a deal to transform the Belgrano railways. The project increased the speed of rail traffic between northern Argentina and the river port Rosario in the east.

Currently, Brazilian workers are building an electric power tower near Arcos in Minas Gerais state. It is one of the construction sites of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, which ranks the second largest of its kind in Brazil and the fourth largest in the world.

After completing the project's initial phase, the State Grid Corporation of China is now the only general contractor in the second phase for building power lines with a total length of 2,518 kilometres.

The project completed in the first two phases is expected to ease much of the power shortage in southern and southeastern Brazil, providing an "electricity highway" from the country's south to north to meet the power needs of tens of millions of residents.

Source : HKSG.