4G highways concessionaire gives up on US$930mn contract

One of the most delayed projects in Colombia's 4G highways program, the 47km Santana-Mocoa-Neiva corridor, will have a new concessionaire as the current contractor is giving up on its 1.4tn-peso (US$927mn) contract due to financing problems.

Works started in 2016 and include additional overpasses and 22km of dual carriageway between Neiva and Campoalegre, bypassing the municipalities of Hobo, Gigante, Timaná, Puerto Caicedo, Mocoa and Villa Garzón.

In statements to daily Portafolio, infrastructure vice-minister Manuel Gutierrez said that the project has advanced only 5%, instead of 31% as set out in the contract.

He added that the concessionaire, Aliadas para el Progreso, couldn't get financing after its main shareholder, Carlos Solarte, was charged in the Odebrecht probe with illegal signing of a contract, bribery and unlawful appropriation in relation to a wastewater contract.

Solarte's firms, Carlos Alberto Solarte and CASS Construcciones, own 93% of the concessionaire's shares and Latinoamericana de Constructores the rest, according to the consortium's website.

Gutierrez said that French firm Eiffage signaled interest to take over. Sources close to the project said that negotiations are underway to determine how much Eiffage will pay for the contract.

A spokesperson for the firm wasn't available for comment.

Last month, a consortium made of Eiffage and its Colombian subsidiary Puentes y Torones was awarded the contract to design and build the Chirijara bridge across the Bogotá-Villavicencio highway, another 4G contract.