SOUTH AMERICA

Manta modernisation set for 2016

11 years ago

The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has revealed that modernisation of the Port of Manta will become a reality in 2016. This will form part of the ninety-third anniversary celebrations of the founding of the city.

“In this new era, we are guaranteeing the modernisation and development of the Port of Manta via an alliance between the public and private sector,” he said.

The President discussed the port project in terms of the development of the province as a whole and of the investment that would be made there. He insisted that, to date, no priority project has been suspended.

Manta is to receive total funding amounting to $164m, although this will be divided into two phases. The first, amounting to $60m, is scheduled to be carried out within 12 months of the awarding of a contract, which the state says will take place sometime next year.

Mr Correa outlined the priority work that is earmarked for Phase I as being “to start dredging, [and provide] infrastructure and equipment work subject to the needs of the port, optimising the resources of the public and private sectors.”