China-based COSCO Shipping Holdings has suspended construction on a tunnel that is a major part of a port project in northern Peru. The tunnel suffered a partial landslide struck, a company official said on Tuesday May 16th.
COSCO local unit manager Romulo Zauroz said that the company was working to understand what caused the landslide, which occurred in the coastal province of Huaral, about 56 miles north of the Peruvian capital of Lima, damaging at least four houses near the tunnel, he said.
COSCO is building a 1.1 mile tunnel designed to cross under a residential neighbourhood and connect a highway with the port. The $1.3bn project’s first stage is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
The Chancay port is envisioned as a hub for Peru’s Pacific coast that can facilitate more trade with Asia.
The land where the tunnel is being built is made of a “non-uniform material of sand and solid rock,” said Zarauz.