Skip to main content

Colombia to award highway tenders

Colombia is due to award all the tenders for the second phase of the country's US$25 billion 4G highway plan by July this year, according to the country's vice president Germán Vargas Lleras. The next phase of 4G highway concessions will involve ten projects and require a total investment of US$7.96 billion. Offers are due to be received in May. So far five firms have prequalified for the first tender round: Spanish construction firms Sacyr and FCC; Mexico's ICA and Tradeco; and Chinese company Sinohy
January 19, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Colombia is due to award all the tenders for the second phase of the country's US$25 billion 4G highway plan by July this year, according to the country's vice president Germán Vargas Lleras.

The next phase of 4G highway concessions will involve ten projects and require a total investment of US$7.96 billion. Offers are due to be received in May.

So far five firms have prequalified for the first tender round: Spanish construction firms 6074 Sacyr and 5656 FCC; Mexico's 4285 ICA and 4743 Tradeco; and Chinese company Sinohydro.

These groups had pulled out of the first phase of tenders for the billion-dollar highway plan reportedly due to concerns about the tender process and possible risks.

Their return "is a clear sign that the parent companies of these groups began to have more trust in the 4G program after the positive results of the first wave of tenders," Juan Martín Caicedo, president of Colombia's infrastructure chamber, was reported as saying.

The caution expressed in the first round has apparently waned after the government worked to improve the tender process and mitigate risks, Caicedo added.

BTG Pactual's managing director of project finance, Mauricio Gutiérrez, explains that some of the main risks for highway tenders like these include construction conditions, environmental issues, and the need to obtain all the land for the projects. In response, Colombia's government committed to taking on additional costs above a certain level.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Nicaragua’s alternative Panama canal plans
    July 24, 2014
    Plans for an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua have been announced by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment and its local arm HKND. The US$40 billion project involves the construction of an alternative to the Panama Canal. The proposed 280 kilometre, which aims to compete with the Panama canal, would connect Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts. It includes the development of a deepwater port at each end of the canal, an oil pipeline running alongside it a dry canal for the transpo
  • ASECAP examines tolling’s trials, tribulations and triumphs
    September 4, 2018
    If you want to get up to speed on the main issues facing the transport sector and tolling companies, ASECAP Study Days event in Ljubljana was a good place to start. Colin Sowman reports (Photographs: Louis David). Increasing populations, ever-higher technical and safety requirements, and electric and hybrid vehicles will provide both challenges and opportunities for tolling companies. The annual Study Days event organised by ASECAP (the European association for tolling companies) examined all of these aspec
  • Migrating to advanced traffic management systems
    March 14, 2012
    Rich pickings of reduced cost and greater value are up for grabs as highway authorities migrate to new traffic management systems – if they choose their paths wisely. Jon Masters reports. Experience gained and expertise developed over the past decade are informing good advice for transport agencies contemplating new or expanded traffic management systems. Technological projects aimed at reducing road congestion may be frequently unique and invariably complex, but a picture is emerging of sensible, prudent a
  • How ITS weathers the storm on I-80
    September 7, 2021
    Weather-related closures on Wyoming’s I-80 can cost as much as $11.7m each. But a new initiative is harnessing V2X technology to prevent snow shutting things down