China and Argentina to Build Tunnel to Link Atlantic and Pacific - ar/20 & cl/24China and Argentina signed on 29th June an agreement in principle for building a 13.9 km tunnel across the Andes on a visit of president Nestor Kirchner to Beijing. The tunnel, which will cross five Argentinian provinces, will be built some 800 m below the present crossing at Aguas Negras Pass in San Juan. The tunnel, which is part of the central bi-oceanic corridor between Porto Alegre in Brazil and Coquimbo in Chile, is designed to shorten considerably the distance between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and boost Argentinian soya and fruit exports to China, permitting and all-weather link by avoiding passage through the Cristo Redendor cross-border tunnel in Mendoza between Argentina and Chile, which is sometimes closed during winter thereby crippling hundreds of trucks on both sides of the Andes. The tunnel's cost estimate reaches USD250 million and it will be constructed by China National Overseas Engineering Corp. and the Fourth Engineering Bureau at an estimated time frame of 68 months once the final agreement is signed. Click ar/20 & cl/24. 29/04.