The Brazilian government has been promising upgrades in paved roads and navigable waterways, but chronic economic instability and large budget deficits have held up this work. Private companies are stepping in and partially filling the gap. Using loans from a government development bank, private companies are building new railroads. One example of private initiative is the case of Blairo Maggi, one of Brazil’s largest soybean producers. When promises of infrastructure improvements from the government went unfulfilled, Maggi used $20 million of his own money and $40 million from the state of Amazonas to build a port on the Amazon-feeding Madeira River. Once the port was opened, soy shipments on the Madeira River quadrupled, and Maggi’s shipping costs fell 20 percent (Rich).