AR Santa Fe Road Infrastructure

closed

The objective of the Province of Santa Fe Road Infrastructure Project is to improve transport conditions along a strategic road corridor that links the Province of Santa Fe (PSF) with regional and international markets. Adding capacity to National Road 19, a key component of a major bi-oceanic corridor that links the PSF and the Center Region with Chile and Brazil will reduce logistics costs, facilitate access to major regional consumption and export markets and foster the effective economic integration of the Center Region provinces. There are 2 components of the project: a) upgrading of National Road 19 which will transform 130 kilometers of National Road 19 in the PSF into a four lane highway with separate two lane carriageways in each traffic direction to expand the capacity and road safety of this heavily traveled corridor; and b) Institutional Strengthening which has 4 sub-components: (i) road safety which will support those actions focusing on one road segment that will constitute a pilot exercise and whose lessons are expected to feed the implementation of the Road Safety Provincial Program; (ii) systemic measurement of logistics costs in the PSF which will include the following activities: (a) support to set up a Logistics Unit within the provincial administration, (b) training o f provincial staff in logistics issues, (c) surveys to measure logistics costs in the PSF and complementary studies to identify infrastructure and trade facilitation constraints, (d) dissemination of findings in workshops organized jointly with the private sector; (iii) strengthening the planning capacity of the PSF to elaborate a new strategic development which will finance the studies to: (a) conduct a diagnostic of the current institutional set up with an assessment of the performance of each agency with planning responsibilities; (b) develop a framework listing all activities and a roadmap to produce a strategic development plan; and (c) propose an information sharing system for planning purposes to be implemented in the PSF; and (iv) strengthening the Provincial Road Agency's capacity to enhance environmental and social management.