• The organization aims to close infrastructure gaps by familiarizing sub-national authorities with public-private investment mechanisms.

On the third and fourth day of Rumbo a PERUMIN, executive director of Proinversión José Salardi said that there is a huge infrastructure gap in our country and the resources are scarce. Therefore, closing this gap in an efficient way will take many years, but we need to start that process.

“At ProInversión, we are working hard with governors, and even district mayors, in order to familiarize them with the modalities we have to create infrastructure: public-private associations, Works for Taxes, and Proyectos en Activos (projects in assets). The authorities should explore these modalities because they have a lot of potential,” claimed Salardi.

Along the same lines, he highlighted that this is the right time to talk to the authorities that have just begun their four-year term of office. He deemed important to facilitate dialogue in order to lay the foundations for the projects that will allow the population to get the services they deserve, but also, very important as well, the private capital to invest.

“I had the chance to meet with a governor recently and he expressed that they had the desire and willingness to open the doors of their town so that the projects can be implemented, and that they welcome private investment with open arms, but that they had not even one sol from canon (fiscal redistribution). In that case, all they had was ingenuity and creativity.”

This way he stated the importance of canon in our country and the need to rethink its distribution because there are regions that might be lagging behind in this respect. We must find a way to make an impact and develop projects when there is also great willingness to work with the private sector.

Proyectos en Activos (Projects in Assets)

“Public-Private Associations (APP), Proyectos en Activos and Works for Taxes have vast validated experience and the ability to improve. If we add a relevant dialogue with our partner, the private sector, we will have the necessary experience and proposals,” he argued.

The Proyectos en Activos modality means that private investment, in which mining participates in certain territories, is made in assets owned by public entities.

“There are many complaints and conflicts because, as a State, we are not getting to the population in a timely manner, and with these approaches we can get to them in a different way,” said Salardi about the proposals made at the event. These proposals underscored the importance of the collaboration between public sectors and private-mining sectors, as well as the territorial approach, in order to close the gaps in the regions.

As an example, he cited the successful case of the bus terminal built by the Provincial Municipality of Trujillo some years ago, which has been operating very well and did not require public spending. It was a private investment, in an available piece of land, and with a vision of what they wanted to do there. “Today, the bus terminal is a reality. It was an investment of more than 13 million dollars. Now the terminal has thousands of users in one of the most important cities in the country,” noted Salardi.

Rumbo a PERUMIN

Rumbo a PERUMIN is an initiative of the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP) and the Executive Committee of PERUMIN 36. It involves an agenda of virtual activities that seek to create spaces for analysis, knowledge and debate on mining.