Cost rises again for Columbia’s unfinished La Linea tunnel

Columbia’s transport minister has said it will take nearly US$168 million and more than two years to finish the controversial La Linea tunnel. Natalia Abello Vives said the government has a “plan B” to finish the 8.65km tunnel, which, as World Highways reported in May, has less than a kilometre remaining to be constructed. It was originally scheduled to be open by last November. The La Linea tunnel project, or Segundo Centenario tunnel, crosses the central mountain range and forms part of the Bogota-B
February 3, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Columbia’s transport minister has said it will take nearly US$168 million and more than two years to finish the controversial La Linea tunnel.

Natalia Abello Vives said the government has a “plan B” to finish the 8.65km tunnel, which, as 3260 World Highways reported in May, has less than a kilometre remaining to be constructed. It was originally scheduled to be open by last November.

The La Linea tunnel project, or Segundo Centenario tunnel, crosses the central mountain range and forms part of the Bogota-Buenaventura corridor. The link, which will be the longest road tunnel in Latin America, will connect Calarca and Cajamarca in the central Corderilla of the Colombian Andes Mountains.

But the tunnel project has met with numerous challenges -- technical, geophysical, financial and legal. Altitude has made work on site difficult, with two tunnel portals at around 2,500m above sea level.

Last December, World Highways reported that the Segundo Centenario consortium, which is building the tunnel, want to push ahead with construction and it would take around $60 million to finish the project.

A new plan involves the incorporation of local firm Construcciones e Inversiones Beta, which would acquire a 40% stake in the venture and deliver more capital as required. There are also plans to bring in two strategic partners, the cement firms Cementos Argos and 3016 Cemex. These companies could offer credit lines for the materials such as cement, concrete and steel.

In addition, construction firm Carlos Collins, part of the Segundo Centenario consortium, could transfer funds from the Bogota-Girardot project, in which it also has a stake, into La Linea. The consortium has asked for 13 months to complete work on the tunnel.

Details of the road and tunnel construction were featured in World Highways %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 2 17519 0 oLinkExternal last May Visit &quot;tunnel for colombias calarca cajamarca highway&quot; page false /sections/emergent/features/tunnel-for-colombias-calarca-cajamarca-highway/ false false%>.
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