Chile’s construction chamber (CChC) has proposed a $22.6bn investment plan to reactivate the country’s economy and create 600,000 jobs.
The aim of its "Employment and Reactivation Plan" is to focus spending on infrastructure, housing and easing the water crisis afflicting the country.
CChC president Patricio Donoso said the government could use $10bn of public money to attract the rest in private investments. Of the total, $13bn would go to the infrastructure sector and the rest to housing.
"The country is experiencing a severe crisis and an accelerated loss of jobs, and our industry can play an important role in containing and reactivating the economy," he said.
As for the projects that would be funded, the CChC has a list of some 665 that could be begun quickly. Of these, 331 are road projects, 224 are water projects, five are energy and mining initiatives and 105 are healthcare schemes.
The plan sees the investments made over three years. Donoso commented that the country took four years to recover from the economic crisis of 1981 and three years to make up lost ground in the 1999 crisis.
According to Johns Hopkins University’s count, Chile has the world’s 13th highest rate of coronavirus infection, with 179,500 cases.
The government ordered a mandatory total lockdown in Santiago in the middle of May after a 60% spike in cases over 24 hours.
Image: Santiago has been the hardest hit area in Chile (CChC)
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