5G taking Colombia by storm

The first wave of Colombia’s 5G infrastructure concessions program will involve 12 tenders worth nearly 34tn pesos (US$8.4bn), and unlike its predecessor, will not be limited to highways but also include rail, dredging and airport concessions.

“We currently have 12 active infrastructure projects. The first tender that we launched was for the Cali Access-Palmira route. There are two waves, the first one has 12 projects and the second another 12,” a spokesperson from infrastructure agency ANI told BNamericas.

The 3.4tn-peso, 310km Cali Access-Palmira highway concession is one of six road projects in the first wave. The others are:

Bogotá northern access phase 2: 1.84tn pesos, 18km in total.

Western Longitudinal Avenue (ALO) south stretch: 1.07tn pesos, 23.5km.

The Buga-Loboguerrero-Buenaventura corridor: Divided into two PPPs (Buga-Loboguerrero and Loboguerrero-Buenaventura), entailing 111km in total and 4.2tn pesos.

Magdalena trunk road (Puerto Salgar-Barrancabermeja stretch): 3.6tn pesos, 259km.

Magdalena trunk road (Barrancabermeja-San Roque stretch) 3.6tn pesos, 272km.

The program also includes:

Canal del Dique dredging: 2.8tn pesos, 117km.

Magdalena River dredging: 1.4tn pesos, 657km.

Dorada-Chiriguaná railway rehabilitation: 1.2tn pesos (ANI estimate), 521km.

And three airport concessions: 

Rafael Nuñez airport expansion: 1.1tn pesos. Involves expanding the runway, passenger platform, boarding bridges and maintenance of existing infrastructure at Cartagena’s current airport.

New airport for Cartagena: 7tn pesos. According to concessionaire Odinsa, which is responsible for the project, the new passenger terminal will have 57,000m2 of floor space.

Southwest airports PPP: 2.94tn pesos for the Buenaventura, Palmira and Neiva terminals. Proposed by concessionaire Aerocali.