Boosting the future of Uruguay

Investing in the future of Uruguay is one of the best decisions we have ever made. Sacyr has been entrusted with the design, construction, financing, rehabilitation and maintenance of the Ferrocarril Central in Uruguay, a 273 km railroad, for a period of 18 years. It’s the largest private investment ever made in Uruguay. And guess what, we’re leading it! This project will connect Montevideo with Paso de los Toros, and will be operated by Consorcio Vía Central, formed by Uruguayan companies Saceem (27%) and Berkes (6%), the french NGE (27%) and Sacyr (40%), under the PPP modality. 

Ferrocarril Central is one of our biggest infrastructure projects in all of Latin America, and it’s expected it will help boost Uruguay’s economy after being hit hard by the COVID pandemic. Even though the current economic context is far from ideal, we are working as hard as we can to finish the project by the end of 2020. So far the old tracks and railway sleepers have been removed and the work is now focused on moving the soil and cementing the place for the new track. The three shipments of rails are already in Uruguay which means we are beating times!

A healthy economy and access to good employment opportunities go hand in hand. With this project we are providing employment for around 900 workers in several work fronts located in Montevideo, Canelones, Florida and Durazno. “The idea is to keep growing over the next six months, until we’re employing around 1,200 workers, or maybe a little bit more.” says Alejandro Ruibal, Director of Saceem, one of our partners in this adventure.

It’s a big deal. Banco Central de Uruguay has described Ferrocarril Central as a key project in the journey to reactivating the country’s economy. The investment is close to 1,000 million euros, thanks to a loan with the participation of SMBC, Intesa San Paolo, IDB, CAF and CAFAM. For the financing of the project, Consorcio Vía Central has also contributed with US 150 million (140 million euros) and the Uruguayan Administration has made several down payments for a total of US 60 millions (54 million euros).

The impact this infrastructure will have, makes it one of the most important ones in Uruguay’s history, proudly making us a part of the country's history.