Colombia wraps up construction on second 4G highway

Colombia’s 749bn-peso (US$200mn) Puerta de Hierro-Cruz del Viso corridor is the second project that’s been finished under the country’s 4G highways program.

Construction took three years. The last stretch – 48.3km between Puerta de Hierro (Sucre department) and El Cármen del Bolívar (Bolívar) municipalities – involved 237bn pesos, infrastructure agency ANI said in a press release.

The entire project comprised 202km linking Puerta de Hierro, Cruz del Viso (Bolívar), and Palmar de Varela (Atlántico). 

Works entailed improving and maintaining 196km of road, plus building a 5.2km access road to El Cármen de Bolívar.

Sacyr subsidiary Concesionaria Vial Montes de María owns the concession for the road. Opex is estimated at 743bn pesos.

The first 4G highway to be completed was the 190km Girardot-Honda-Puerto Salgar corridor, opened nearly a year ago. 

Earlier this year, the government expected to finish seven corridors under the 4G program in 2021, including the Puerta de Hierro-Cruz del Viso project. But construction chamber Camacol warned in May that road blockades related to social protests caused work stoppages on 75% of projects country-wide at one point. 

Almost all blockades were lifted by last week, though mobilizations against the government have continued in major cities such as Bogotá and Medellín.