Rio de Janeiro, Apr 13 (IANS): Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said that the government intends to double per capita income by 2022, when Brazil celebrates 200 years of independence from Portugal.

"We will soon celebrate the 200th anniversary of our independence, and on that day, we will have to look back and see what we did to build our sovereignty, our development, and the well-being of our people ... our goal is ...to double our per capita income, " Rousseff told a business ceremony Friday.

Last year, Brazil's per capita income remained stable at 22,402 reals ($11,429), reported Xinhua citing official figures.

In her speech at the ceremony marking the supply of construction machinery to 54 towns in Rio Grande do Sul state, Rousseff stressed the need for "strong infrastructure".

She said that for a long period in the 1980s, her country did not invest as much as necessary in the sector.

The president highlighted recent investment in logistics and transport networks, and announced an investment of 2.4 billion real ($1.2 billion) in infrastructure in the southern state, where she began her career in public administration.

The government plans to build a railway to connect Rio Grande do Sul with the country's largest city Sao Paulo and further north, she said.

"We need infrastructure projects ...our country needs to be competitive, and we will only be competitive if we have strong infrastructure," she said.