The General Manager of Peru's National Port Authority, Jorge Chávez, stated that the country's port infrastructure gaps have been closed by 90-95% over the past two decades. The official also highlighted regulatory changes that will incentivize investments through complementary addenda, allowing concessions to be extended beyond their original terms.
"Regarding port infrastructure gaps, we have already closed these gaps by 90-95% over the past 23 to 25 years. This is now practically closed and is being financed, basically, by the private sector. The private sector is the one that invests through concessions or through direct private investments by means of the National Port System Law," he said.
"The regulatory changes have already been made. We had the approval of Law 32048 approximately two years ago, and this law allows for the expansion of port infrastructure by extending concessions for an additional 30 years, which facilitates investments to be brought forward, not postponed, and avoids having to wait for a new tender, thus preventing a ten-year period during which no investment would occur. To avoid that ten-year valley, two years ago we considered what regulations were needed to enable this long-term planning," he added.
Chávez also referred to the Port of Corío project, which has already received approval for its Master Plan from the National Port Authority of Peru.
"The Port of Corío has, from our side, the approval of its Master Plan. This port is mainly focused on attracting cargo from western Brazil and some cargo from southern Peru. It is a Master Plan of approximately US$800 million. The total project will have three stages," he noted.
When asked whether this large-scale project could coexist with the Port of Chancay, which is still under development, Chávez affirmed that "anything is always possible. We believe that with the entry of Chancay and the phases that are still pending, and what will be done with the extensions of the concessions, we would say that - on that side - new private ports will have to be supported by very solid demand studies."
"For now, I believe we have closed gaps. We have sufficient port infrastructure, and what we need to do is make it function in a balanced way," he concluded.
