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

  • Brazil opts for freeflow tolling
    April 9, 2014
    David Crawford explores the technical background of Brazil’s First multi-lane free-flow tolling system. The 2013 opening of Brazil’s first fully-operational, all-vehicle, multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) tolling system in the state of São Paolo has set the scene for a new phase of modern electronic fee collection (EFC) deployment in Latin America’s largest country. It has toll programmes at both federal and state levels, with São Paulo – the most populous state, with the largest road network – leading in the awa
  • ASECAP widens its influence and fosters debate in Dubrovnik
    August 5, 2013
    Jason Barnes reports from the ASECAP Days 2013 event, which took place in Dubrovnik. ASECAP, the European tolling association held its 41st annual Study and Information Days event in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which attracted more than 200 figures from the road infrastructure sector in Europe and beyond. A series of presentations over two days brought attendees up to date with developments in a variety of policy and technology fields and discussed a number of developing and new topics, such as GNSS-based tolling a
  • Work begins on Auckland, New Zealand motorway project
    December 9, 2016
    Work has begun on new US$509 million (NZ$709.5 million) motorway in New Zealand, extending from Puhoi, approximately 50 km north of Auckland, to Warkworth, a distance of 18.5 kilometres. The project is New Zealand’s second Public Private Partnership (PPP) for a state highway and will be delivered by the Northern Express Group, which will finance, design, construct, manage and maintain the motorway for the 25 years that will follow the expected five year period to build the motorway. Full ownership of the
  • Assessing driver behaviour in work zones
    May 31, 2013
    David Crawford looks at moves to increase throughput and safety in work zones.