The bill approving the Agreement for the construction of the international road bridge between Carmelo Peralta (Paraguay) and Puerto Murtinho (Brazil) was approved on Wednesday, May 9 by the Chamber of Deputies and awaits enactment by the Executive. The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the same agreement in a session held last March. The bridge, which will cross the Paraguay River, will be strategic to make the International Bioceanic Road Corridor viable. The project also includes complementary infrastructure works, accesses and border posts.

The Agreement creates a Paraguayan-Brazilian Joint Commission composed of representatives from each country, in charge of approving the Binational Bidding Terms and Conditions, the studies, projects and other documents or procedures necessary for the construction of the bridge, as well as awarding the result of the bidding and supervising the construction until its completion.

The bridge will not only connect Central-West Brazil, Northern Paraguay and deep water ports in Chile -with strategic access to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans- but it is also linked to the construction of the first asphalt road in Alto Paraguay, which will represent an important support for the development of the entire Paraguayan Chaco, raising the quality of life of the inhabitants. The construction of the Paraguayan section of the Bioceanic Corridor between Carmelo Peralta and Loma Plata -which will cover 277 kilometers- is set to take forty months from the start of the work, whose award contract has already been signed in favor of the Consorcio Corredor Vial Bioceánico, made up by the company Constructora Queiroz Galvao S.A. of Brazil and Ocho A S.A. of Paraguay.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies advocates for the implementation of the Agreement and for the bidding processes to be brought forward, in order to inaugurate the bridge as soon as possible and connect the Paraguayan section of the Bioceanic Corridor.