Bolivia road project halted

Construction work on the road connecting the Bolivian towns of Riberalta and Rurrenabaque has been halted. The project to upgrade Bolivia’s Route 8 is being carried out by a Chinese contractor. Work started on the project in 2014 and is supposed to be complete in 2020 but is said to be significantly behind schedule, with only 11% of the planned work having been carried out. The project is costing an estimated US$579 million of which the contractor has so far been paid some $220 million. The road link is important as Riberalta is in the north of Bolivia and close to the border with Brazil, so upgrades to the route would benefit transport and trade between the two nations.