Is Argentina giving up hopes for convincing Chile for the construction of Agua Negra Tunnel? If or when built, the 14 kilometer long tunnel would connect Argentina and Chile through the Los Andes massif

Argentinian province of San Juan decided to use a part of the loan for Agua Negra Tunnel project for paving the existing road over the mountain, the Agua Negra Passage. This has been explained at a press conference by the San Juan minister who talked about the formation of a technical commission to define alternative projects for the loan, writes Diario Huarpe.

The IDB (Inter American Development Bank) had made US$ 1.5 Billion available for each country for the construction of the Agua Negra Tunnel.  The government of Chile had decided to renounce the loan while Argentina took it. But if it is a tunnel between two countries, it takes two to tango. Argentina cannot build the tunnel on its own. The bad news is, there is no hope on Chile side. There are two candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in Chile. None of the candidates consider the tunnel a priority, including the incumbent president  Sebastián Piñera, the person who rejected the loan, writes Diario Huarpe.

Left with US$ 1.5 Billion loan, Argentina is now looking around for projects to assign the parts of the loan. The first one is paving the parts of the Agua Negra Passage (existing road over the mountain) between two countries with asphalt. This will cost a tiny fraction of the US$ 1.5 Billion Argentina got from IDB. The Argentinian side will be in the search of projects to spend the money.

https://www.diariohuarpe.com/nota/san-juan-usara-el-credito-del-tunel-de-agua-negra-para-pavimentar-el-paso-a-chile-202112161380