Santa Cruz Road Corridor Connector Project

The Santa Cruz Road Corridor Connector Project aims to improve transport accessibility between San Jose de Chiquitos and San Ignacio de Velasco in eastern Bolivia. It was approved in 2017 and aims to improve transportation accessibility along the road corridor between San Ignacio de Velasco and San José de Chiquitos. 

The project has two components. The first covers the road upgrade, as well as the implementation and supervision of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Management Plan (EMP), Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), and the Indigenous Peoples Plan (IPP). The second component is the technical/feasibility studies for another stretch of road upgrading for the 300 km stretch between San Ignacio de Velasco and San Matias, which connects with Brazil. 

According to Bank documents, the primary beneficiaries are close to 125,000 inhabitants of which 51 percent are considered poor and 62 percent are Indigenous Peoples (IP). The project will directly impact 17 Chiquitano communities in the Chiquitania region and will indirectly affect three Ayoreo communities in nearby Santa Teresita, a Native Community Land. 

Environmental and social risks in this project, including child sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment issues (SEA/H), have been rated as substantial. The Project Appraisal Document (PAD) recognizes that the implementation and management capacity of the Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras (Bolivian Highway Administration or ABC), the implementing agency, has been weak in the past.