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

  • IBTTA’s Jones sees turbulent times and a bright future for tolling
    November 10, 2017
    Colin Sowman talks to IBTTA’s Pat Jones about the future of tolling in a fast-changing world. Pat Jones may have been executive director and CEO of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) for 15 years but in his words: “Never before have I seen so much change coming so fast in the transportation and tolling industry.” Amidst all this change, tolling companies are asked to provide funding for roadway building or improvements which will be repaid for over, say, a 30-year concess
  • Impact of US economic stimulus programme on ITS industry
    August 2, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on the public sector perspective in this second article exploring the impact of the US economic stimulus programme on the domestic ITS industry The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted in February 2009 to help stimulate the US economy in the face of global recession. Of measures worth a nominal total of $787 billion, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) received just over $48 billion with which to promote short-term economic recovery and an additional $1.5 bil
  • Mileage based charging offers secure future for funding
    August 10, 2016
    HNTB’s Matthew Click sets out why a move to mileage-based pricing is inevitable. Infrastructure is the most neglected yet the most critical engine of our society, and our continued indifference could lead to a dystopian future. Our roads, bridges and highways have been largely passed by in the digital age—marginalised in an era when funding is limited and stewardship of physical assets has given way to our preoccupation with technological innovation and data—the stuff of the virtual realm.
  • Debating the future of in-vehicle systems
    December 6, 2012
    Industry experts talk to Jason Barnes about the legislative situation of current and future in-vehicle systems. Articles about technology development can have a tendency to reference Moore’s Law with almost indecent regularity and haste but the fact remains that despite predictions of slow-down or plateauing, the pace remains unrelenting. That juxtaposes with a common tendency within the ITS industry: to concentrate on the technology and assume that much else – legislation, business cases and so on – will m