Colombia aiming to finish 80% of 4G highway program by next year

Colombia’s 4G highways concession program is currently around 57% complete and infrastructure agency ANI aims to surpass 80% progress by August 2022, according to its head Manuel Gutiérrez.

“The president [Iván Duque] has set a goal of 20 completed projects. That’s very difficult, but we can reach 18 with no problem,” Gutiérrez said during a public audience on the Ruta Caribe 2 concession organized by the country’s infrastructure chamber (CCI). 

Last year, the first 4G highway (Girardot-Honda-Puerto Salgar) was finished, and a second one (Puerta de Hierro-Cruz del Viso) followed suit earlier this month.

The next one to be completed is the Pacífico 2 highway, expected to take place next month. Another five (Cartagena-Barranquilla, Pasto-Rumichaca, Sisga Transversal, Neiva-Girardot and Vías del Nus) would be finished before the end of the year, and 10 concessions are forecast to be completed by August 2022, when a new government will take office.

As for the 5G program, Gutiérrez said that the tender for the US$560mn PPP to dredge the Dique canal near Cartagena de Indias (Bolívar department) is close to being resumed, and that it only requires the approval of the country’s finance ministry to get underway.

RUTA CARIBE 2

Although the 1.8tn-peso (US$473mn) Ruta Caribe 2 concession was originally awarded in 2017, the project had to be overhauled in the wake of the Odebrecht scandal and the modifications resulted in a delayed process of approval, although that now expected to be concluded this month with the signing of a new contract.

“We are currently concluding the legal issues,” Menzel Amín, president of KMA Group (the project’s original proponent), said during the audience, while adding that he hopes construction will start soon.

The concession involves works on 253km of roads between Cartagena and Barranquilla, which includes widening 79km, construction of 16km of access roads, eight underpasses and overpasses, plus the operation and maintenance of the entire corridor.