June 27, 2006
Interview with Ramón Carrizalez, Venezuela's Minister of Infrastructure Great Projects for the People of Venezuela
By Zuleima Centeno
Published by Ven-Global News, Ministry of Communication and Information

"The Venezuelan Ministry of Infrastructure is currently building a significant number of public projects for the progress of the nation, especially after so many years of neglect by previous governments.

In this interview, Venezuela's minister of Infrastructure, Ramón Carrizalez, speaks about some of the public projects currently underway in Venezuela.

There are some public projects currently underway in Venezuela . Could you elaborate on these

There are currently many public projects underway in Venezuela. I am going to speak about the most relevant. In my opinion, the most important project is the Children's Heart Hospital in Caracas . This hospital has 4 surgery rooms, 33 intensive care units, 144 beds and 30 clinics. There will also be a hospital dorm for 85 children and their relatives. That is why I believe this project is so important: it has great social impact and our government is headed towards socialism.

Subway

Another project we are currently performing is the Caracas's subway (Metro) Line 4, which will have 4 stations along 3.6 miles. This line will then be extended towards the eastern part of the city. There are other subway projects in other cities such as Valencia , Los Teques and Maracaibo . The Valencia subway will have 7 stations along 3.8 miles and the Los Teques subway will have 2 stations along 4.2 miles.

Viaduct

A new viaduct bridge is currently underway between Caracas and the port city of La Guaira. We are running a bit behind schedule because the pillars, which come from Italy , were delayed at a port in that country. Nonetheless, the new bridge will be ready for the first semester next year.

Trains

The train that connects the outskirt population of Valles del Tuy with Caracas is almost ready. This train will connect with a subway line in Caracas and it will run through 24 tunnels and 7 viaducts. The estimated time for the trip will be 32 minutes.

We are also recovering existing train lines in Midwest Venezuela. This line is expected for the end of the year. We are waiting for the trains to arrive. There are other 5 lines expected to be recovered and refurbished along the Venezuelan plains.

Freeways

There has been a significant increase in the investments made in existing highways and freeways throughout the country. The José Antonio Páez freeway in the plains will connect San Carlos and Acarigua. We expect to open the majority of this freeway by the end of the year. We are already constructing the bridges. We are also working on the Barquisimeto-Acarigua freeway, as well as the Oriente freeway, which runs from Caracas to the eastern part of the country.

Bridges

Even though the II Orinoco Bridge is not part of our ministry, we have to include it on this list. This bridge over the Orinoco River will spam 1.4 miles and it will be ready in July. We are also refurbishing the existing bridge of Angostura over the same river because in over 40 years it had not been maintained properly. We already signed a contract for the construction of a third bridge over the Orinoco River. We expect to start construction once the second bridge is opened

What is the current status of the infrastructure projects and what is the amount invested in each one of them ?

The Children's Heart Hospital will be opened by President Hugo Chávez in August. The building is ready. We are just making some final adjustments and installing the necessary equipment. This hospital was built in 18 months. It normally takes 2 or 3 years to build a hospital the size of this. The dorms will be ready in September. The total cost of this hospital is about USD $ 100 million.

The Line 4 of the subway will be opened at the end of July. The amount of money invested there is about USD $ 800 million. The Valencia subway will be ready in October. The Los Teques subway will be opened in November. The Maracaibo subway will be opened at the beginning of 2007.

The II Orinoco Bridge will also be ready in July. More than USD $ 500 million have been invested here. The third bridge will have a similar cost and the refurbishing of the existing bridge will cost about USD $ 35 million.

For the trains the total amount is about USD $ 2.3 billion, and for the freeways around USD $ 100 million.

We are allocating USD $ 100 million for the new viaduct bridge between Caracas and La Guaira. We expect to have it fully operational for the first semester of 2007, perhaps April or May.

Our government has built more infrastructure projects than any previous government. Why are we doing this?

This is true development for our nation. Of course, there are some sectors that will never recognize what we are currently doing. I don't know what they are going to do once we start opening these projects; perhaps they will play the see no evil, hear no evil card. We opened the Francisco de Miranda Dam and the media did not cover this at all. If it weren't for our broadcasting, the general public would not have known about it.

What are the goals of the Ministry of Infrastructure?

We have many responsibilities. We are responsible for building and regulating. We need to strengthen the social development of the population. That is our main goal. Infrastructure ought to have a social function".