Colombian court rules consultations cannot halt projects

Colombia's constitutional court has ruled that public consultations can no longer halt energy and mining projects, potentially unlocking billions of dollars in investments.

The decision came in response to a suit filed by Mansarovar Energy seeking to stop a local referendum that proposed a ban on the company's oil and gas drilling plans in central Meta department.

A full chamber of the court ruled by five votes to one that a popular vote could not prevent the project in the municipality of Cumaral from going ahead.

The court set a two-year deadline for congress to draft new regulations for the oil and mining industries that consider social and environmental issues.

"Finally, the general [public] interest has prevailed, respecting the constitution, our institutions and the logic of our legal system," said Milton Montoya, a professor at Universidad Externado de Colombia.

The Colombian Mining Association (ACM) hailed the ruling as a win for investors. "This decision not only gives life to several mining projects that would have been truncated by the [votes] but begins to give positive signals in terms of legal security," it said in a statement.

Mansarovar Energy, a joint venture between India's ONGC Videsh and China's Sinopec, was not immediately available for comment.

Public consultations have halted a raft of Colombian oil and mining investments in the past two years, including a US$2bn project by AngloGold Ashanti.

Last November Colombia's oil engineers association (Acipet) warned that the country's backlog of local referendums was a "ticket to energy poverty."

President Iván Duque, who was sworn in two months ago, has vowed to boost investment in the country's extractive sectors by reducing taxes and removing legal and regulatory uncertainty.