Cuba to resume construction of national highway
By Steve Skinner30 July 2008
Ernesto Capdet Wert, director of Villa Clara’s highway administration centre said that “authorities are evaluating the state of the unfinished road located between the 260 km and 320 km points of the highway.”
Construction of the national highway was halted in the late 1980s due to the severe economic crises of the time, brought about by a strengthening of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of the country.
Cuban minister of construction Fidel Figueroa said of the resumption, “To build 1 km of highway will cost CUP 1 million (US$ 38000), although with the skyrocketing price of oil this figure could increase.”
Construction plans also include adding a lane to the highway that runs between Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba and extending the 8 lane highway that runs between Taguasco (Sancti Spiritus) and Ciego de Avila.