Skip to main content

Colombian highway projects under development

A finance package has been secured in Colombia for the Autopista al Mar 1 highway project. A loan worth close to US$206 million is being provided by the national development bank, Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN). The highway forms part of Colombia’s 4G infrastructure development plan and the finance package will be provided in three separate tranches. The construction work is being carried out by a consortium comprising Strabag, Concay and Sacyr Concesiones. The project will upgrade the 71km
June 29, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

A finance package has been secured in Colombia for the Autopista al Mar 1 highway project. A loan worth close to US$206 million is being provided by the national development bank, Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN). The highway forms part of Colombia’s 4G infrastructure development plan and the finance package will be provided in three separate tranches.

The construction work is being carried out by a consortium comprising Strabag, Concay and Sacyr Concesiones. The project will upgrade the 71km existing route connecting Santa Fe in Antioquia and Bolombolo. The work also includes widening the 43km route between Medellin and Santa Fe, in Antioquia Department. Other key portions of the project include the construction of the 4.6km Tunel de Occidente as well as building no less than 39 bridges.

Meanwhile work to build the Toyo Tunnel (Tunel del Toyo) in Antioquia Department is now around 64% complete. The tunnel measures 9.8km long and should be ready for traffic by 2022. The link is being built bya consortium comprising FCC Construction, Cass Builders and Company, Carlos Alberto Solarte and Estyma Studies and Handling. The tunnel route runs underneath the mountains of western Antioquia, an area that is difficult to access at present due to its challenging topography. Construction of the route will improve transport to the port of Uraba, located some 80km to the north of the city of Medellin. Work is also underway on the nearby Tunel 18, a 258m tunnel section located close to Canasgordas, as well as the Puente 13 bridge and a number of access roads

However there are questions surrounding the highway widening project  for the Bogota-Girardot route. A preliminary investigation is being carried out into the construction partnership handling the $586.3 million road widening work along a 154km stretch of the highway connecting the capital Bogota with Girardot. The investigation is being carried out by the official the industry and trade watchdog (SIC), focussing on the tender process.

Related Content

  • Contract for major Colombia tunnel project
    September 2, 2015
    Bidding has been closed for the contract to construct the Toyo Tunnel in Colombia. Three offers for the project have been made. In all, eight firms are participating in the tendering, with six of the companies being from Colombia itself. The project is expected to cost some US$595 million. The new tunnel will improve connectivity between Medellin and Uraba and will run from Giraldo to Canasgordas. The tunnel will form part of the Uraba road which runs through the mountain range at 1,500m.
  • Bogota transport infrastructure boost
    April 26, 2016
    The Colombian Government is investing in road infrastructure development, with a large portion of the budget being directed to Bogota. The road infrastructure programme includes 22 projects that will help cut chronic congestion in Colombian capital Bogota. Construction works for Avenida Longitudinal de Occidente (ALO) road expansion are expected to start in the first half of 2016. These will run from the Mondonedo intersection to Boyaca Avenue, in the southern part of the city. The budget for this project i
  • Key highway project in Colombia faces delay
    December 2, 2013
    Work on a key stretch of Colombia’s Ruta del Sol highway project is behind schedule, with the route now unlikely to open to traffic before 2017. The 21.6km section of the highway facing these delays will link Villeta and Guaduas in Cundinamarca. A key challenge is technical as the US engineering firm Gall Zeidler Consultants has warned Colombia’s infrastructure agency (ANI) that this section of the route is geologically unstable. The proposed route could be at risk from slippage and will need to be stabilis
  • Projects planned for Colombia’s highway connections
    March 10, 2014
    From Colombia comes news of a US$13.4 billion funding package that will be directed towards the construction of nine highway projects. This package of works includes construction and concessions for a series of highways, which will be carried out under the PPP model. These include the Conexión Norte, Autopista al Río Magdalena 1, Autopista al Río Magdalena 2, Autopista al Mar 1 and Autopista al Mar 2. They also include the Autopista Conexión Pacífico 1, Autopista Conexión Pacífico 2 and Autopista Conexión P