The longest and most expensive bridge built in Peru still leads nowhere

It is the longest bridge ever built in Peru, a huge structure of cement and iron that passes over the Nanay River and reaches virgin areas in the Peruvian Amazon.

But so far, it’s going nowhere.

The bridge is part of a federal highway project that will link Iquitos, in northeastern Peru, with the district of El Estrecho, on the border with Colombia, for a total of approximately 188 kilometers (117 miles). It faces the growing opposition of indigenous tribes, who fear that construction will lead to land grabbing, deforestation and drug traffickingwhich have plagued similar projects in the world’s largest rainforest.

“The road is going to kill us,” said Everest Ochoa, a member of the Maijuna indigenous group who lives in the Peruvian Amazon, The Associated Press“We have to stop this project for the sake of our children, to protect this land for their future.”

The works are paralyzed While the government is carrying out a study of the area, the Ministry of Transport has already built the largest bridge in the country, which stretches 2.3 kilometres over the Nanay River, a tributary of the Amazon River.

Indigenous leaders say communities along the route of the highway have not been consulted.

“The government never consulted us about the road, we did not have prior consultation in our community and we want our rights to be respected,” said Artur Francis Cruz Ochoa, leader of the Centro Arenal native community.

The community of Centro Arenal, which is next to the bridge, has already begun to be affected, he said.

“We already have drugs in our community, there are young people who have started using drugs. With the construction of the highway, this situation will be much worse,” he said.

In the village of Sucusari, also close to the future route of the highway, people echo the same fears. It is a community of thatched-roof houses, where its 180 inhabitants live a traditional lifestyle, fishing, hunting and growing fruit for local markets, especially aguaje, an Amazonian delicacy.

“We will lose our land, animals, fish, the water will be contaminated and also our trees.“If we lose our forest, we will be left without water. And there is no life without water,” said Sebastián Ríos Ochoa. “With the highway, we will lose all the abundance that we have in our territory.”

In a written statement to AP, the Transport Ministry said the project aims to connect people along the route and boost local economies, strengthen trade and help bring security to border areas.

The Ministry stressed that the construction of the bridge is considered an infrastructure project for public services and, as such, is not obliged to submit to prior consultation with indigenous tribes, in accordance with Peruvian laws.

The Iquitos-El Estrecho bridge It is the largest and most expensive road construction in the Peruvian Amazonaccording to a recent report by the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law, a nonprofit organization. According to the report, there has already been land grabbing and deforestation on indigenous lands.

According to the report, The road will cross two protected areas, Maijuna Kichwa and Ampiyacu Apayacu, which cover some 8,000 square kilometers (3,000 square miles) of old-growth forest.

Zoila Ochoa Garay, 58, cries inconsolably when she talks about her community of Centro Arenal, where the first stretch of the highway begins.

“Since the highway project began, many people have been invading the communal land that belongs to us,” he said. “We have no justice here.”