THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM? CORREA'S NEW TRANSPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000404

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2018
TAGS: ECON ETRN EAIR SENV ECON EC
SUBJECT: THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM? CORREA'S NEW TRANSPORT
MINISTER

REF: 07 QUITO 2571

Classified By: Ambassador Linda Jewell. Reason: 1.4 B and D.


1. (SBU) Summary: Ambassador met with the third Transport
Minister of President Correa's administration, Jorge Marun,
on May 5, and was told that President Correa "wants an Open
Skies agreement." Marun, a civil engineer by trade who is
from the agricultural province of Bolivar, has the air of an
efficient businessperson, and provided a clear summary of the
GOE's plans to expand Ecuador,s road system. End summary.


2. (U) Marun took office on December 1, 2007 and since that
time has announced numerous new initiatives to expand roads
and build new provincial airports in January. When Ecuador
was hit by massive flooding in early February, Marun began
visiting the most severely affected coastal regions. While
he faced criticism at that time for not doing enough, he was
quick to reply (and pointed out to the Ambassador as well)
that the Ministry has a budget of just $300 million per year,
and that virtually no major road repairs or expansion
projects have taken place in the last fifteen years.
(Comment: this conveniently overlooks the $100 million plus
in emergency funding for road construction made available to
the Ecuadorian Army Corps of Engineers a year ago that has
only slowly been implemented.) Marun told the Ambassador
that the Ministry is working overtime to help advance
flooding clean-up operations, but that continuing rain
hinders those efforts.


3. (SBU) Marun was the first Minister of Correa's government
to visit the new Quito airport project, also in January. He
told Ambassador that he believes that it is a good project.
He said the GOE is still concerned that the Quito airport
should share "something" with the central government in order
to generate cash for the development of regional airports,
but added that the Ministry is now in talks with both the
Municipality of Quito and the airport concessionaire,
joint-venture company Quiport (which includes Houston Airport
Systems as a partner, and which has obtained financing from
OPIC and ExIm Bank, reftel).


4. (SBU) When the Ambassador brought up the topic of an Open
Skies agreement, Minister Marun broke in to say that
President Correa "wants Open Skies." (Comment: it was
obvious that Marun was familiar with the proposal, and
probably expected our inquiry). Marun said he would ask his
Under Secretary for Aviation and Airports to begin
consultations with the Embassy on this topic.


5. (U) Finally, Marun used a map hanging in his reception
room to show the Ambassador the GOE,s ongoing plans to move
forward with the Manta-Manaus intermodal transport link,
saying that Argentine investment had been secured to expand
port facilities on the River Napo. He also detailed plans to
build a coastal road the length of Ecuador, and commented
that plans are being considered to expand the PanAmerican
highway (Ecuador's major north-south road) to multiple lanes
in the heavily traveled regions north and south of Quito.


6. (C) Comment: Marun has an efficient, business-oriented
demeanor. He owns fields that produce bananas, cacao and
rice for export to Dole Food Company. When he was first
appointed, post noted corruption allegations that had been
levied against him during his previous tenure as a provincial
official; we have so far not heard any such rumblings as
Minister. In contrast to his predecessor, Marun is
to-the-point, appears well-organized, and hopefully will
prove to be a productive leader for what has so far been a
very disorganized ministry. End comment.
Jewell