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Peru Transportation and Communications
Peru's transportation sector has deteriorated seriously
since
the mid-1970s. In 1990 the national railroad network,
managed by
the National Railway Enterprise (Empresa Nacional de
Ferrocarriles--Enafer), totaled 1,884 kilometers,
including 1,584
kilometers of standard gauge and 300 kilometers of narrow
gauge
track. The national railway network consists of two major
systems. The Central Railroad, with approximately 512
kilometers
open, runs from Callao to Lima to La Oroya to Huancayo
(see
fig. 10). The highest railroad in the world, it crosses the
central
Andes and connects with the Cerro de Pasco Railroad and
the
narrower gauge Huancayo-Huancavelica Railroad, which runs
to the
mercury mines at Huancavelica. The second major railway,
the
Southern Railroad, with 1,073 kilometers open, runs from
Mollendo
to Arequipa to Juliaca and Puno--crossing the southern
Andes and
serving as a major link with Bolivia--and from Juliaca
proceeds
in a northwestern direction to Cusco (Cuzco). In addition,
the
Southern Peru Copper Corporation operates 219 kilometers
of
track, including five tunnels totaling 27 kilometers. The
García
government had planned to electrify the railroad system
and
extend the Central and Southern railroads, but lack of
funds
delayed implementation of these plans.
Passenger train service--often more comfortable and
quicker
than bus service--existed on the following lines: Lima-La
OroyaHuancayo , La Oroya-Cerro de Pasco, Huancayo-Huancavelica,
Arequipa-Juliaca-Puno, Puno-Juliaca-Cusco, and Cusco-Machu
picchu-Quillabamba. Lima's mass-transit electric train
project
has proceeded slowly.
A chronic lack of funds for road repair and
construction has
led to deterioration and, in places, disappearance of
Peru's land
transport infrastructure. Most of the high Sierra roads
were
narrow, unsurfaced, and subject to frequent landslides. In
1990
Peru's road system totaled almost 70,000 kilometers,
including
about 7,500 kilometers of paved roads, 13,500 kilometers
of
gravel, and 49,000 kilometers of unimproved earth. The
most
important highways are the paved Pan American Highway
(2,495
kilometers), which runs southward from the Ecuadorian
border
along the coast to Lima and then south to Arequipa and
Chile and
is relatively well-maintained; the Inca Highway (3,193
kilometers), which runs from Piura to Puno; the Jungle
Border
Highway (la carretera marginal de la selva or la
marginal), which extends 1,688 kilometers from
Cajamarca to
Madre de Dios Department; and the mostly paved
Trans-Andean or
Central Highway (834 kilometers), which runs from Lima to
Pucallpa on the Río Ucayalí via La Oroya, Cerro de Pasco,
Huánuco, and Tingo María.
By the mid-1980s, the Peruvian Army (Ejército
Peruano--EP)
had built 700 kilometers of a planned 2,000 kilometers of
roads
located mostly in frontier areas. Three of the sixteen
road
projects planned had been completed, and the thirteen
other,
longer roads were scheduled for completion in the 1990s.
The
Fujimori government expected to complete its ambitious
US$300
million road-repair program by June 1994, more than a year
earlier than it had expected. The program included repairs
to
1,400 kilometers of the Pan American Highway and Central
Highway
and maintenance of 2,000 kilometers of the same roads.
Most shipping is through Lima's port of Callao. There
are
also seventeen deep-water ports, mainly in northern Peru--
including Salaverry, Pacasmayo, and Paita--and in the
south,
including the iron ore port of San Juan. River ports are
located
at Borja, Iquitos, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado, and
Yurimaguas.
The government's National Ports Enterprise (Empresa
Nacional de
Puertos--Enapu) administers all coastal, river, and lake
ports.
In 1990 Peru's merchant marine totaled twenty-nine ships,
including sixteen cargo ships; one refrigerated cargo
ship; one
roll-on/roll-off cargo ship; three petroleum, oils, and
lubricants tankers; and eight bulk cargo ships. In
addition,
eight naval tankers and one naval cargo ship were
sometimes used
commercially. Inland waterways totaled 8,600 kilometers of
navigable tributaries of the Amazon system and 208
kilometers of
Lake Titicaca. Although the Fujimori government did not
plan to
privatize Enapu, it invited tenders from private operators
to run
port operations.
Peru had 27 large transport aircraft and 205 useable
airports
in 1990, 36 of which had permanent-surface runways. Of the
205
airports, there were 2 with runways over 3,659 meters, 24
with
runways 2,440 to 3,659 meters, and 42 with runways 1,220
to 2,439
meters. The principal international airport is Jorge
Chávez
International Airport near Lima. Other international
airports are
Colonel Francisco Secada Vigneta Airport, near Iquitos;
the new
Velasco Astete Airport at Quispiquilla, near Cusco; and
Rodríguez
Ballón Airport, near Arequipa.
The Fujimori government planned to privatize the flag
air
carrier, the Air Transport Company of Peru (Empresa de
Transporte
Aéreo del Perú--Aeroperú). Forty percent of Aeroperú was
offered
in 1991 to a qualified foreign airline, 20 percent to
Peruvian
investors, and 10 percent to the airline's personnel, with
the
state holding on to the remaining 30 percent. Aeroperú,
which was
in a very poor state in 1991, has operated both internal
services
and international routes to other Latin American countries
and
the United States. Other domestic airlines with routes to
Miami
were Airlines of Peru (Aeronaves del Perú) and the Faucett
Aviation Company (Compañía de Aviación Faucett). A new
domestic
airline, Aerochasqui, based in Arequipa, operated flights
to and
from Lima and elsewhere in Peru.
Peru's telecommunications were fairly adequate for most
requirements, although its telephone system was one of the
least
developed in Latin America. The country had a nationwide
radio
relay system; 544,000 telephones; 273 AM radio stations;
no FM
stations; 140 television stations; and 144 shortwave
stations.
Since 1988 Peru has utilized the Pan American Satellite
(PAS-1)
and two Atlantic Ocean Intelsat (International
Telecommunications
Satellite Organization) earth stations, with twelve
domestic
antennas. In the late 1980s, the government granted the
Peruvian
Telephone Company (Compañía Peruana de Teléfonos--CPT),
serving
the Lima-Callao area, permission to offer facsimile,
telex, data
transmission, international long-distance telephone, and
cellular
telephone service. However, in November 1991 the Fujimori
government eliminated the state's telecommunications
monopoly,
saying that the CPT and the National Telecommunications
Enterprise of Peru (Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones
del
Perú--Entelperú), responsible for telecommunications
outside the
Sima-Callao area, had impeded modernization and hurt
consumers,
especially in rural areas. The government also vowed to
promote
free competition in providing telecommunications services.
It
increased the capital of the CPT and Entelperú and offered
a 40
percent stake in them to foreign bidders.
Data as of September 1992
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