Cuba sees no quick fix for transportation crisis
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| Published on Friday, June 29, 2007 |
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By Marc Frank
HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Cuba is pouring significant amounts of resources into passenger and freight transportation, but improvements will take time after years of neglect, the country's transportation minister said on Thursday.
"Rehabilitating the transportation system has run up against the significant deterioration it suffered ... meaning that to make the best use of resources in the sector requires a gigantic organizational effort," Minister Jorge Luis Sierra told a closed-door session of parliament, state-run media reported.
After spending more than $2 billion since 2005 to modernize Cuba's energy grid, transportation has been targeted for a similar overhaul, government officials have told foreign officials.
Cuba recently formed joint ventures with Venezuela to improve the country's shaky rails and potholed roads, and signed contracts to purchase more than 6,000 buses from China, 100 railway cars for cargo from Iran and thousands of motors for antiquated Soviet-era trucks.
"The purchase of equipment guarantees a progressive improvement in transportation service, but still it will not reach 1986-1990 levels," Sierra said.
The import-dependent Caribbean island's economy has improved after a decade-long crisis that followed the demise of its benefactor, the Soviet Union, and led to the near-collapse of infrastructure.
Public transportation remains in crisis at just 21 percent of its 1989 level, while freight transportation stands at around 33 percent, according to government statistics.
Few Cubans own automobiles so they must wait hours for buses or hitch-hike to get around. Many use bicycles and horse-drawn carts.
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