Current Infrastructure Development

The industrial sector has had enormous difficulty to emerge significantly. The industrial sector’s main problem is the deficit of energy, which the current government has tackled with the improvement of performance on existing hydro plants, and the creation of new ones. Such projects currently include negotiation of the Coca-Codo hydroplant.

Incentives of financing, tributary incentives, tariffs, and others will be implemented. That is intended to benefit areas of tourism, foods process, renewable and alternative energies, bioenergies, pharmaceutical and chemical products, biochemical and environmental biomedecine, services, automotive metallurgical industry, footwear, and automotive parts and pieces, among others.

Transportation

Ecuador has a network of national highways maintained by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Comunicaciones (Ministry of Public Works and Communication). The Pan-American Highway connects the northern and southern portions of the country as well as connecting Ecuador with Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. The quality of roads, even on truck routes, is highly variable.

There is an extensive network of intercity buses that use these mountain roads and highways. The most modern Ecuadorian Highway connects Guayaquil with Salinas.

The Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos is the Ecuadorian national railway. The Interandean Railroad is essentially defunct; only the short “devil’s nose” section is usable. Tourists usually board the train in Alausí, although some opt for a longer trip from Riobamba (if available).

Water Supply and Sanitation

Water supply and sanitation in Ecuador is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. One key achievement is a significant increase in both access to an improved water source (82% in 1990 to 97% in 2004 in urban areas) and adequate sanitation (77% in 1990 to 94% in 2004 in urban areas).

Significant increases in coverage in urban areas were achieved both by the public utility EMAAP-Q, serving the capital Quito, and the private concessionaire Interagua in the country’s largest city Guayaquil.However, municipalities rely overwhelmingly upon central government investment, rather than recouping the costs at a local level. Another problem is intermittent water supply, which affects half of the urban areas. Also, only 8% of all collected wastewater is being treated.

The level of non-revenue water is estimated at 65%, one of the highest in Latin America. Addressing these challenges is complicated by the atomization of the sector: A multitude of stakeholders – the Ministry of Housing, the Emergency Social Investment Fund, the Solidarity Fund, the State Bank, NGOs, municipalities and others — intervene in the sector.

Despite the existence of an Interinstitutional Committee for Water and Sanitation there remains room to improve coordination.