Itaipu Launches Bid for Design of New Bridge Between Brazil and Paraguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Itaipu Binacional launched this Saturday, July 20th, in Carmelo Peralta, Paraguay, the bid tender in the amount of US$7.5 million (R$28.05 million) for contracting a company to conduct the feasibility study, the final engineering design and to supervise the construction of the new Bioceanic bridge that will connect Paraguay and Brazil.

The new bridge will be built over the Paraguay River, connecting Carmelo Peralta to Porto Murtinho, in Mato Grosso do Sul. Today, travel between the two cities is only by ferry.

According to the engineer in charge of the work, Pánfilo Benitez, the technical studies should be completed in eight months, and the work should be put out for bidding in the first half of 2020, to begin by the end of next year.

The bridge over the Paraguay River will be 680 meters long.

The Bioceanic bridge design will be similar to the international bridge over the Paraná River, connecting the cities of Presidente Franco, in Paraguay and Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraná.

The project will also be financed by Itaipu Binancional, but in this case, for the Brazilian section. The structure to reach Mato Grosso do Sul will be under the charge of the Paraguayan branch of the company.

The governor of Mato Grosso do Sul, Reinaldo Azambuja, emphasized that the construction of this bridge represents the fulfillment of a dream for the state’s population.

Itaipu’s Paraguayan director general, José Alberto Alderete, estimated that the project would cost approximately US$75 million, the equivalent of R$280 million.

The Bioceanic bridge is expected to be completed in April 2023.

“The route will not only benefit Paraguay and Brazil but the entire region, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. It will be our Panama Canal, connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific,” said the director.

Paraguayan president, Mario Abdo Benites, who was present at the event, assessed that the route would change the logistics of the whole region, bringing even greater competitiveness to the products from Mato Grosso do Sul and that this will be a tool to bring development to the Upper Paraguay department (state).

“Paraguay, a landlocked country, will be connected to two oceans,” he said.

Parallel to the Bioceanic Bridge construction project, the Paraguayan government is already carrying out another essential project to enable the corridor, the asphalt paving of a stretch of 277 km between Carmelo Peralta and Loma Plata, an investment of approximately US$420 million.

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error