Related
Stories
- Bolivia protest revives road row
- Morales scraps Bolivia road plan
- Support on show as Bolivia road protesters reach La Paz
 |
| A dispute over the road provoked major protests in Bolivia |
Bolivian
President Evo Morales says he is rescinding the contract of a Brazilian firm to
build a controversial road through the Amazon rainforest.
He accused
the firm, OAS, of not complying with the terms of the deal.
The
announcement casts further doubt on a road project that provoked angry
anti-government protests last year.
Mr Morales
had already suspended the most contentious section which was to pass through an
indigenous rainforest reserve known as Tipnis.
Now he is
seeking to annul the contract to build the other two sections of the road
between Villa Tunari and San Ignacio de Moxos.
"OAS
suspended construction in these sections without justification or
authorisation," Mr Morales told a news conference in La Paz.
He said the
firm had repeatedly ignored instructions and failed to meet various contractual
obligations.
Mr Morales
did not say if the road project would continue or if OAS would be compensated.
There was
no immediate response from the company.
Rival
marches
Work on the
central section of the road - which was to pass through the Isiboro-Secure
reserve (Tipnis) - was suspended last year after a protest march by indigenous
tribes.
They said
it would destroy their rainforest homeland, opening it up to land grabs by coca
farmers.
Mr Morales
initially defended the highway saying it was vital for national development,
but backed down as the protest gathered nationwide support.
Other
communities protested in favour of the highway, saying would bring much-needed
economic development to the Bolivian Amazon.
The road
project was being funded by Brazil to link the Brazilian Amazon to ports on the
Pacific coast of Peru and Chile.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.