Chamber outlines 10 infrastructure priorities for Colombia's presidential candidates

Colombia needs to develop a long-term master transport plan, the country's infrastructure chamber (CCI) wrote in a document outlining what it believes should be the 10 infrastructure priorities for the presidential candidates.

Colombia needs a transportation development model "that transcends beyond the narrow four-year plans and plans for demand in the coming decades," the document states.

CCI also emphasized the need to continue focusing on public private partnership models to reduce the infrastructure deficit in urban centers as well as the importance of investing more resources in preinvestment studies for projects.

Also among the 10 points, were strengthening local engineering firms rather than solely relying on foreign companies to carry out large-scale projects, focusing investment in poor and isolated areas and reforming the country's infrastructure law.

"The steps that have already been taken [in the past four years] represent the initial efforts to develop modern and competitive infrastructure in the country," wrote CCI head Juan Caicedo Ferrer. "However, there are still various challenges to overcome, and the transport sector is still not protected against various phenomena such as corruption, overshadowing opportunities for Colombian engineering, especially in some regions."

Colombia will hold elections on May 25, with current President Juan Manuel Santos seeking another term.