{"id":50030573,"date":"2019-10-01T17:37:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T16:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=30573"},"modified":"2023-03-12T15:54:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T15:54:21","slug":"30573-chinese-rail-advances-slowly-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/30573-chinese-rail-advances-slowly-in-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese rail advances slowly in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Latin America has chronically under-invested in infrastructure. Currently, only 3% of the region\u2019s GDP<\/a> is channeled towards vital transport and logistics projects, instead of the recommended 6% – a gap it has tried to close with China\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

However, Chinese-backed projects, especially rail, have faced numerous obstacles in Latin America, with huge investment announcements not materialising, yet never officially cancelled either.<\/p>\n

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50%<\/p>\n

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\nof all Latin American transport projects linked to Chinese companies since 2002 have progressed
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Of the 150 transport projects in which China has expressed an interest since 2002, only half have progressed at all, according to the Inter-American Dialogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina likes making announcements<\/a> and Latin America is also a fan \u2013 holding a conference, launching a project and then seeing what happens,\u201d said Leonardo Stanley, a researcher at Argentina\u2019s Center for State and Society Studies (CEDES).<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the projects are not well planned and collapse as soon as the first problems appear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investment needs<\/h2>\n

Between 2000 and 2017, Chinese companies or investors participated in 69 Latin American infrastructure projects worth a total US$56 billion. These generated 400,104 direct and indirect jobs<\/a>, according to a study by researchers Enrique Dussel Peters and Ariel Armony.<\/p>\n

China is a newcomer to the region with railways and still has a hard time getting acquainted with domestic and regional policies<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The projects, concentrated in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, are only a portion of an extensive list of those announced that ultimately never advanced.<\/p>\n

Chinese rail projects feature prominently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s hard to find a project that’s officially declared dead,\u201d said Ricardo Barrios, of the Asia and Latin America program at the Inter-American Dialogue. \u201cIt would mean they’d have to admit that it was not possible and that nobody wants to have to do that, especially Chinese companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legal problems and opposition from local communities, are just some reasons why such proejcts fail, according to Diego Leiva of Griffith University, who will soon publish research on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is a newcomer to the region with railways and still has a hard time getting acquainted with domestic and regional policies. It has had bad results but has enormous potential. Its objective is to consolidate itself in the Latin American rail market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Problems with Chinese rail in Latin America<\/h2>\n

Beyond long-shelved plans for \u201cdry canals\u201d in Colombia and Honduras, a Venezuelan bullet train, the Mexico City-Quer\u00e9taro link and the Bioceanic railroad that would connect Peru, Bolivia and Brazil are further examples of derailed Chinese transport investments.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan government and China Railway Group signed a contract in 2009 to develop\u00a0 the 471-kilometre Tinaco-Anaco high-speed train. The first Chinese rail project in Latin America, the project would cost US$7.5 billion and traverse four states.<\/p>\n

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$7.5billion<\/p>\n

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\nthe projected cost of Venezuela's proposed Tinaco-Anaco railway
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However, problems soon appeared.<\/p>\n

Venezuela, soon found itself facing economic difficulties after the crash in global oil prices and abandoned projects soon after laying the tracks since it couldn\u2019t meet financial commitments to the Chinese company.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina’s experience with high-speed trains indicates the most viable routes are those that connect metropolitan areas and have a stable electricity supply. Those conditions did not exist in Venezuela,\u201d Haibin Niu, a researcher at the BRICS Policy Center, wrote in Building Development For a New Era<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Colocacion primer riel tren tramo Tinaco – Anaco @la_iguanatv<\/a> construido por @ifetren<\/a> y @crecv<\/a> #trenaltavelocidad<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Xe6hU5Txmk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 CRECV (@CRECV) April 22, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n