A Sao Paulo-Buenos Aires thoroughfare requires a bridge across the River Plate. The connection would cut the drive to Montevideo from 600 km to 250 km. A technical study is complete, and the two nations are now courting potential private backers to build and operate the bridge. Last year Chile finished paving a 280-km section of the road from Arica to the Bolivian border. Next March Bolivia's President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada will open a 194-km section extending the pavement to La Paz.
Work is set to begin next year.
In August the two countries reached an agreement on gas prices, and construction is scheduled to begin in 1996. Argentina-Chile Connections Argentina and Chile also have plans to build a gas pipeline by 1997. Last year they completed a 425-km oil pipeline to bring Argentine crude across the Andes to the Pacific port of Talcahuano. It was the first joint infrastructure project ever undertaken by the two countries, which only 17 years ago were on the verge of war over Argentina's claim to a sea route through the Magellan Strait. In the new spirit of cooperation, Argentina and Chile are upgrading 11 mountain passes.