Brazil and Uruguay to sign agreement to develop binational waterway

Brazil and Uruguay plan to sign an agreement to develop navigation through the Mirim Lagoon, shared by both countries. According to the Undersecretary of Transport and Public Works of Uruguay, Juan José Olaizola, the binational waterway will allow Uruguayan agricultural producers to improve their export costs.

The governments of Uruguay and Brazil, which have jurisdiction over the project, are in contact to finalize it. This involves the installation of a terminal near the mouth of the Tacuarí River.

“We initiated contact with the Brazilian government and they expressed their support for the development of the Mirim lagoon waterway,” said Olaizola. According to him, the project meets the need for the Uruguayan agricultural producer to move his cargo in better economic conditions, and for the Brazilian to be able to receive this commodity.

The project “is part of a general policy by Uruguay and the Ministry of Transport to promote different waterways to optimize Uruguayan production logistics costs in different regions of the country,” said the Undersecretary of Transport, referring to the Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay rivers, in addition to the Merín lagoon.

The matter was analyzed in a recent videoconference in which Olaizola participated together with the Minister of Transport and Public Works of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Heber, and the Minister of Infrastructure of Brazil, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas.

“Both countries agree on the importance of promoting this waterway,” noted Olaizola, adding that Uruguay’s diplomatic representation in Brasília is working very actively to bring the initiative to fruition.

According to the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, agricultural producers in the east and northeast of the country raised the need to build a port terminal at the mouth of the Merín lagoon for the transportation of rice cargo. From there, the cargo would be shipped towards the Port of Rio Grande, in Brazil, on a circuit that would also include navigation through the Merín and Los Patos lagoons. Such a possibility would improve the costs associated with exporting this and other cereals

In addition to the construction of the port, the project involves the dredging of an ​​eight-kilometer area in the Brazilian jurisdiction of the Merín lagoon to facilitate navigation of the barges going abroad.

Source: Portal Portuário

Sharing is caring!