Peru grants China's state-owned Cosco Shipping the exclusive right to operate its Chanchay port while pressure is built to construct a highway across the Amazon rainforest

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/384247

• Peru and Cosco Shipping, a Chinese state-owned construction company, have settled a dispute over the business model to be put in place for the Port of Chancay, built under China's "Belt and Road Initiative". The company is granted the exclusive right to operate the port after it is inaugurated in a few months.

• Earlier this year, however, as the work neared completion, Peruvian government lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging the exclusivity granted to the Chinese company, saying the facility should be available to other container handling companies as well.

• But Chinese lenders and Peruvian industrial groups harshly criticized the move. Now, with Peruvian authorities taking a step back, the impasse should be settled.

• Various business groups are now pushing for the construction of a road between the port and the Brazilian state of Acre, to speed up access to maritime trade with Asia, at the cost of more harm to the Amazon rainforest.