Skip to main content

Four Colombia highway concessions to go ahead

Colombia plans to award the construction of four more highways by November as part of a US$25 billion plan to expand and improve road quality and logistics, President Juan Manuel Santos said. Once the contracts are signed, the government will have wrapped up the concessions to build nine highways, the first leg of its 4G plan to build 8,000km of roads. Most of the projects will be carried out under public-private partnerships. "We have four more [highways] to award ... Those projects will be awarded b
September 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Colombia plans to award the construction of four more highways by November as part of a US$25 billion plan to expand and improve road quality and logistics, President Juan Manuel Santos said.

Once the contracts are signed, the government will have wrapped up the concessions to build nine highways, the first leg of its 4G plan to build 8,000km of roads. Most of the projects will be carried out under public-private partnerships.

"We have four more [highways] to award ... Those projects will be awarded between now and November," Santos said after signing the contract for a US$1.3 billion river navigability project. "We'll finish this year as promised, with the first wave of concessions awarded."

Last week, Colombia signed five highway contracts, the first under the 4G plan.

The government has eased rules to allow more companies to participate in the tenders, which have attracted few bidders. Insurer AIG said several highways could be difficult to award as traffic estimates for 20-25 projects - out of a total of 40 - were overstated, and anticipated possible financial strains in tenders.

Additionally, the government is looking at banks, multilateral organisations, bonds and infrastructure funds to finance the program.

Related Content

  • Electric buses: more billion dollar orders
    August 3, 2015
    China will spend up to one trillion dollars on electric buses over the coming 15 years according to analysts IDTechEx. This will reduce the impact of over 22.5 trillion dollars from air pollution over that time, at least one percent of GDP. More insurrection will occur if corrective action is insufficient because hundreds of thousands are dying from traffic pollution and far more are suffering resultant serious disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), outdoor air pollution caused 3.7 m
  • Missouri’s smart solution for rural road monitoring
    July 7, 2017
    David Crawford sees how Missouri is using commercially available information to rapidly improve monitoring and driver information on rural highways. Missouri is a predominantly rural state with the second largest number of farms in the country and agriculture the main occupation in 97 of its 114 counties. US statistics starkly reveal how road accidents in rural areas tend to be more serious than in urban regions and of the 32,000 US motorists killed each year, 54% die on roads in rural areas even though onl
  • Historic budget for Australia’s NSW roads, maritime and freight
    June 24, 2015
    New South Wales Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Duncan Gay has announced an historic US$5.8 billion investment in this year’s budget to support the huge infrastructure program currently underway to build and upgrade critical road, maritime and freight networks. Budget highlights include US$3.1 billion for regional NSW including US$1.5 billion to continue fast tracking major upgrades of key regional highways, US$1.3 billion to build a world class motorway for Sydney and US$139 million towards easing
  • Glasgow’s new Operations Centre has a key role in city’s future
    June 6, 2014
    David Crawford investigates a control centre with a future. Destined to play a central role in keeping the city and its transport running smoothly during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in July, the new Glasgow Operations Centre in Scotland’s largest urban centre formally went live earlier this year. The aim was to dry run its far-reaching integration of previously distinct core systems and familiarise the public with the initial phase of what will be a long-term post-event legacy. The centre brings together, i