Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo: Best Infrastructure Development Partner Latin America 2019

Uruguay’s Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo (CND), founded in in 1985, is one of the country’s major economic drivers, funding and managing national development projects. The state-owned corporation operates as a holding company with a mission to strengthen infrastructure, empower the population, and promote investment. CND partners with the public sector (government ministries and municipalities) and private sector (commercial enterprises and institutions) for on-time, on-budget completion of projects ranging from transport and energy to telecommunications. The company’s trifold focus addresses infrastructure, funding facilitation, and financial structuring. CND supports project development from planning through to construction, facilitates the financial management of project funds, and provides advisory, structuring, and administration support. In 2018, CND and its holding companies executed public works projects worth $470m. The company focuses on social responsibility; in 2018, it invested more than $50m in educational projects, and completed 64 educational centres. That emphasis on education holds true for the company in-house; it puts effort and investment into attracting, training, and retaining high-tech innovators for its team. The CFI.co judging panel is confident that CND’s future diversification strategies — including development of the country’s port infrastructure and co-operative deals with Argentina and Paraguay — will bear fruit. The judges declare CND the winner of the 2019 award for Best Infrastructure Development Partner (Latin America).