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Argentina and China signs railway contract

12-11-20 China Railway Construction Corporation and the Ministry of Transport of Argentina on Fri signed a contract worth $2.6 billion to improve the General San Martin Cargo Railway, the largest railway project signed by a Chinese company in Latin America.

The line is one of the South American country’s three main cargo railways, connecting western productive provinces with the eastern agricultural export region.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez presided over the signing of the 2.6 billion-U.S. dollar contract, the biggest contract in a series of railway agreements signed Friday with Chinese companies.

Under the contract, the CRCC will provide the engineering, technology and equipment.

The agreement seeks to rehabilitate the railway corridors of the San Martin line, improve its infrastructure to boost cargo capacity from 3 million to 9 million tons, and increase train operational speed from 40 to 90 km per hour, according to the president’s office.

The project will renovate 1,813 km of the railway line, benefiting the provinces of Buenos Aires (center-east), Santa Fe (center), San Luis (west), Cordoba (center) and Mendoza (west), and eventually directly generate some 16,830 jobs.

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Cauchari photovoltaic solar project in Jujuy Province, Argentina

9-26-20 The China-built Cauchari photovoltaic solar project in Jujuy Province, Argentina, the largest solar project in the country was put into use on Sat. The project is to bring self-sufficient electricity and an annual income of $50 million to the province.

The Cauchari solar project in Argentina’s northernmost province Jujuy is one of the biggest photovoltaic (PV) solar power projects in South America. Located at an elevation of more than 4km above the sea level, it is also the world’s highest-altitude solar power project.
Construction on the 300MW Cauchari solar project phase one was started in October 2017, with an investment of £301m ($390m). The phase one was inaugurated after the completion of trial run in October 2019.

The 300MW Cauchari solar farm, with an estimated lifespan of 25 years, is expected to generate approximately 660GWh of clean electricity a year, which will be enough to power more than 160,000 households.

It is further planned for a 200MW expansion in the next phase to bring the total capacity to 500MW, which will be enough to meet the electricity needs of approximately 260,000 Argentine homes.