Colombia roundup: Environmental permitting advances for Canal del Dique, road concessionaires to assess projects

Canal del Dique project

The concessionaire Ecosistemas del Dique, which is responsible for the project to improve navigability on the Canal del Dique waterway between the Magdalena river and Cartagena bay will finalize its environmental permitting plan on May 23. 

The plan is required for the company to obtain the environmental license for the works required.

The permitting process for the US$750mn project is moving forward and Ecosistemas del Dique, fully owned by Spain's Sacyr, is expected to complete the plan by May 23. 

This will accompany the publication of the project's contractual documentation on Colombia's public procurement platform, Secop, national infrastructure agency ANI said in a statement.

The concessionaire is preparing the environmental impact study with technical support from ANI. Once environmental licensing authority ANLA evaluates the study and issues the necessary permits, the construction phase will begin. This phase includes ecosystem restoration, canal maintenance and other interventions to mitigate flood risk.

The project covers an area of influence of 435,000ha, both marine and continental, along 115km of the waterway, which is part of the Magdalena river, a key shipping route in Bolívar department.

Key components include the construction of two lock and gate complexes, one in Calamar and another in Puerto Badel, aimed at restoring degraded ecosystems and benefiting the residents of 19 municipalities across the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar and Sucre.

Road projects

ANI and 30 road concessionaires in Colombia have agreed to form technical working groups to assess the status of each concession and resolve outstanding issues in order to expedite the commissioning of as many road projects as possible.

According to ANI, the 30 projects in the country's fourth-generation (4G) road program have reached a completion rate of 91.5%, while the six projects in the fifth-generation (5G) program have advanced 10%.

The meeting was attended by ANI president Óscar Javier Torres and Juan Martín Caicedo, president of the Colombian infrastructure chamber (CCI).

The technical working groups will review the financial, technical and construction progress, as well as social conflict issues in each project. Torres noted that these technical working groups within each concession will pose a significant challenge for the country, with the aim of bringing each project to completion. Caicedo, for his part, highlighted ANI's willingness to advance the projects.