Country planning for the next 5 years
Submitted by sball on Thu, 2013/02/28 - 18:06.
I haven't been hanging out on the IADB (Inter American Development Bank) website for some time and I stopped by today to see if the new country strategy for Nicaragua had been posted. This is a plan that is developed taking into account both Nicaragua's development strategy and the one the bank has for the region. The plan, with a date of last October, covers the end of 2012 to 2017.
Check it out for a glimpse of the future. They identified the electrical power and transportation systems as impediments to growth so you will be seeing more improvements to both; more power lines going into rural areas, more road improvements and over 1,000 km more of paved roads. Other major areas of improvement are in health and early childhood care.
http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37303954
The document is really an overview. You need to look at individual projects to find the details. For instance, the Leon/Chinandega areas were targeted for road improvements and they mentioned a specific road near Jinotega, for which, if it ever lets me back into the transportation document, I will post details. :-)
RE: Country planning for the next 5 years
sball, I can verify that road and electrical improvements are actually happening in Nicaragua. We drove to our farm in Pantasma several weeks ago. We usually drive from our house in Santa Cruz (near Esteli) to La Concordia past Apanas Lagoon to Las Praderas then Pantasma. On one trip there was a news photographer at the entrance to Las Praderas and we stopped to talk to him. He said the World Bank had approved money to pave the road from Las Praderas (current pavement ends there) to Wiwilli and the border of Honduras. As we drove through Praderas there were graders leveling the road so it looks like he was right. Also at the finca in mountains outside of Pantasma they ran electrical lines earlier this year so as soon as we hook up we’ll have lights.
I remember when we first drove out there in 2002. It was dirt road almost all the way. It used to take us 5 hours. One time on the way back the bridge at San Miguel was covered over with water so we have to go around the other side of Apanas. That trip took us 7 hours. These trips were literally brain jarring ordeals where you could go no faster than 10 mph. I remember cursing the road and the toll on the car not to mention the body and our nerves. We also got a 4 wheel drive stuck up in the mountains out there in 2003 and had to hike out, at night in the pouring rain, wading across rivers back to town. Kind of reminded me of “Romancing the Stone” when Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas were stuck in the mountains of Colombia.
I thought I would be happy to see the road and electricity. I’m not. Now that its coming I’m actually sad. One of the reasons I fell in love with Nicaragua was because of its “old west” feel where you sometimes needed a horse and pistol to get there and back. I see this somewhat fading now. When we first built our house in Santa Cruz we would look out at night and see maybe 4 or 5 lights. Now I count about 20. Back in 2002 I would never have dreamed there would be a Walmart (Maxi Pali actually) in Esteli 10 minutes from the house. I guess that’s the price of progress. Nicaman
Thanks
Nicaman, thanks for sharing this.
more details on roadwork...
"A major component of this project includes the improvement of 44.6 kilometers of roads from La Paz Centro-Malpaisillo (37.2 km), of the primary trunk network, in the departments of León and Chinandega; and the Miralagos-Cuyalí (7.47 km) highway, of the primary feeder network, located in the Department of Jinotega."