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

  • September 29, 2014
    Colombia to study PPP road proposals
    Colombia's finance ministry is to study two unsolicited road public-private partnership (PPP) proposals received from Grupo Odinsa and Colpaitra. The first project, proposed by Grupo Odinsa, costs around US$55 million and involves the construction of Villavicencio city's beltway and four-lane roads between Ciudad Porfía and Acacias and between Ocoa river and Apiay, all in Meta department. The second project was proposed by Colpaitra and entails the expansion of a 35km stretch of road between Ibagué a
  • September 20, 2013
    Funding agreed for reconstruction of Fort Worth I-35W
    A significant milestone in the redevelopment and expansion of Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, one of the most critical and most-congested corridors in the North Texas region and in the country has been achieved by NTE Mobility Partners Segments 3 LLC (NTEMP3). They have reached financial agreement on Segment 3A of the North Tarrant Express (NTE), paving the way for the reconstruction and expansion of the interstate. The project is being financed through a unique combination of public and private funds: US$
  • November 20, 2014
    Peru lines up road, rail concessions for 2015
    Peru plans to award next year infrastructure concessions including rail and road projects. Hydro and thermal power plants and liquefied petroleum gas distribution in the capital are also being lined up, a senior government official has said. Concessions will include the fourth stretch of the Longitudinal de la Sierra highway, which calls for the construction, operation and maintenance of a 640 kilometre stretch of Peru's Longitudinal de la Sierra highway, connecting Huancayo, Izcuchaca, Mayoc and Ayacuch
  • February 3, 2015
    São Paulo court stalls undersea tunnel
    São Paulo state court TCE-SP has ordered a halt to the tender of São Paulo state's US$732 million project to build an underwater tunnel between the coastal cities of Santos and Guarujá. The project calls for the construction and operation of a 900 metre, six-lane submersed tunnel between Brazil's coastal cities of Santos and Guarujá. To be submerged at a depth of 21 metres, the tunnel would give the Santos port navigation channel a draft of 17 metres. Construction was scheduled to start in 2014 and c