Infrastructure 52
‘Pacifico 1’ Project Engineers Begin Recovery Work Following Landslide
Thursday, 15 August 2019 11:57 Written by Roberto Peckham
The “Covipacifico” highway construction consortium announced August 14 that its engineers have begun initial work towards recovery of a 300-meters-long section of the crucial, under-construction “Pacifico 1” highway wiped out by a landslide last May.
The landslide not only destroyed the new section of highway but also wrecked a 300-meters-long section of existing highway below, blocking the traditional route between Medellin’s southern suburb of Caldas and the town of Bolombolo alongside the Cauca River.
As a result, freight traffic southwestward from Medellin toward the main Pacific port of Buenaventura has been forced to take lengthy and costly detours. Final resolution of the landslide problem is likely to take many more months.
“After the [land] mass movement that happened suddenly on May 28 that affected the existing road and the Pacifico 1 divided highway under construction, Covipacifico now works constantly and responsibly in the search for solutions that allow to recover mobility in the Sinifaná sector (PR 59 + 600 and PR 60 + 000) of Colombia Route 6003,” according to the consortium.
“Thanks to the best climatic and safety conditions that have occurred in the affected area in the last 15 days, it has been possible for specialist [engineers] to access the site in order to establish mitigation measures.
“Currently, Covipacifico through its construction contractor mobilizes the resources necessary to advance the actions recommended by the experts.
“Part of the approaches to be implemented [include] the construction of canals and drain structures for water management, critical [land-] mass management, implementation of deep drains in slopes and control structures at the top of the slope.
“Additionally, an early warning monitoring system will be implemented that will allow for timely reaction to any eventuality.
“The implementation and progress of this mitigation phase will define technical alternatives that enable removal and recomposition activities in the area, and thus seek to obtain a temporary, gradual and secure solution for [traffic] user mobility,” according to the consortium.
Antioquia’s ‘Mar 2’ Highway to Atlantic Ports Wins Financing; ‘Sinifana’ Tunnel Makes Progress
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 11:06 Written by Roberto Peckham
Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced July 31 that the 254-kilometers-long “Mar 2” highway project connecting Medellin to new Atlantic ports just won financial close.
According to ANI, the project got US$652 million in finance from three sources: China Development Bank (US$418 million), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (US$84 million) and Colombia’s Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) finance agency (US$150 million).
Colombia President Iván Duque announced the financing deal following a meeting in Beijing this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Mar 2” is the first “fourth generation” (4G) highway concession project in Colombia involving China Harbour Engineering Company, according to ANI.
Once “Mar 2” and the connecting “Mar 1” highways are complete, freight transport between Medellin and new ports in the Uraba region will be slashed to four hours, greatly improving the competitiveness of Medellin’s industrial and commercial sectors.
The Mar 2 project includes 54 bridges and 19 tunnels, and will make connections with several “4G’ highways as well as the under-construction “Toyo" tunnel west of Medellin, which will become Colombia’s longest tunnel -- and one of the largest in all South America..
‘Pacifico 1’ Tunnel Excavation Completed
On another front, the US$790 million “Pacifico 1” 4G highway project between Medellin’s southern suburb of Caldas and the Cauca River port town of Bolombolo just completed excavation of two parallel, 2.8-kilometers-long tunnels near Sinifaná in Antioquia.
Following the excavations, the next step is lining the tunnels with concrete and installing lighting, fire controls and emergency communications systems, according to ANI.
While completion of the “Sinifaná” tunnel excavation is a positive step forward, the same project suffered a reversal two months ago when heavy rains caused a landslide that wiped-out a 300-meters-long stretch of under-construction “Pacifico 1” highway as well as 300 meters of the existing highway below, temporarily blocking the most convenient route between Medellin and Bolombolo.
Restoration of the existing highway and reconstruction of the ruined section of new highway is expected to take many months, probably pushing-back the expected completion date of Pacifico 1.
Medellin’s JMC International Airport Cargo Terminal Expansion Nearly Complete; Passenger Traffic Soars
Saturday, 13 July 2019 10:53 Written by Roberto Peckham
Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced July 12, 2019 that the COP$110 billion (US$34 million) expansion of the cargo terminal at Medellin’s José María Córdova (JMC) international airport is nearly complete.
“The project awarded by ANI to the operator of Aeropuertos Centro Norte (Airplan) seeks via this extension to improve the logistics process of imports and exports, and reduce costs and transport times in this area of the country,” according to the agency .
The expansion works in the cargo terminal include adaptation of an administrative center, a cargo and warehousing service module, the extension of more than 33,000 square meters of taxiways and berms, the expansion of the platform that will expand from the current 14,000 square meters to more than 27,000 square meters and the construction of about 16,000 square meters of parking, according to ANI.
“Currently, this terminal serves the cargo transported by specialized airlines such as Avianca Cargo, Centurion Cargo, UPS, Aerosucre, Cargo Cup, Cargolux, Latam Cargo, Air Canada Cargo, Fedex and DHL as well as commercial passenger flights,” according to ANI.
“Among exportable products by air, flowers are considered the main transit through this terminal to destinations such as the United States, with the highest percentage of shipments, as well as to Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Russia.
“Among the new works was the adaptation of 3000 square meters of cold rooms that will allow a better management of [flower exports] and other loads, especially agricultural goods. It is estimated that, on average, flower shipments take between 11 and 16 hours from the initial harvesting to loading on the planes,” according to the agency.
Single Inspection Zone
Meanwhile, the new terminal also features one of the first single-cargo-inspection zones in all Colombia. This new area “seeks to implement new inspection procedures to streamline routine exercises carried out by entities such as the National Tax and Customs Directorate of Colombia (DIAN), the Anti-Narcotics police, the Invima (Colombia’s sanitary inspection regulatory agency) and the ICA (Colombia’s national agricultural research agency), according to ANI.
Passenger Traffic Jumps
On a related front, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (GAdS) announced July 3 that domestic passenger traffic through JMC airport from January through June 2019 is already up 19% year-on-year, totalling 4.7 million passengers. Meanwhile, international passenger traffic through JMC from January-June 2019 likewise is up 13% year-on-year, to 857,136 passengers.
ANI Announces Expansion of Highways Connecting Rionegro, Llanogrande, JMC Airport
Thursday, 11 July 2019 17:56 Written by Roberto Peckham
Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced February 27, 2019 that the existing, congested two-lane highways connecting Rionegro, Llanogrande and Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova (JMC) international airport will expand to four lanes.
The COP$118 billion (US$38 million) project will tap funds generated by the existing toll booths of the various “Devimed” highways east of Medellin, according to ANI.
“The [highway expansion] works will begin after the delivery of [adjacent] properties by the Civil Aeronautics Authority [Aerocivil], the government of Antioquia and the municipality of Rionegro,” according to ANI.
In total, 12.6 kilometers of existing two-lane highways will expand to four lanes, linking the city of Rionegro to Llanogrande and then onward to the existing roundabout adjacent to JMC airport.
The rapidly growing “oriente” region east of Medellin is about to experience even more traffic congestion when the “Tunel de Oriente” tunnel linking Medellin to JMC airport opens as expected in May or June 2019.
“The next step for the start of the work will be the delivery of the [adjacent] properties by the government of Antioquia and the Aerocivil for the construction of the 6.4-kilometer stretch between Llanogrande and the roundabout to the Airport, while the municipality of Rionegro must deliver [properties adjacent to] the corresponding to 6.2 kilometers between Rionegro and Llanogrande,” according to ANI.
The “Devimed” highways east of Medellin include the four-lane, divided highway between Acevedo (north Medellin, near Bello) and Santuario -- all part of the existing Medellin-Bogota highway.
Other “Devimed” toll highways east of Medellin include the existing two-lane roads connecting El Retiro, La Ceja, La Union, Carmen de Viboral, Marinilla and Santuario.
Medellin's Zero-Emissions Public Transport Network Continues to Expand
Thursday, 11 July 2019 17:54 Written by Roberto Peckham
Medellin Mayor Federico Gutiérrez announced June 13, 2019 that the city’s enormously popular “Metro” public-transport network will add yet another zero-emissions aerial-tram “Metrocable” system -- helping to stem air pollution mainly caused by obsolete diesel and gasoline vehicles.
The 2.8-kilometers-long, COP$298 billion (US$99 million) “El Picacho” aerial tram is due to start-up in late 2019, he estimated.
Local residents had to abandon nearly 400 homes to make way for construction of the new route.
The “Picacho” line would serve about 160,000 people living in the working-class Northwest neighborhoods of Castilla and Doce de Octubre.
That line will join Metro’s existing electric-powered Metro rail system, an expanding electric-powered “Tranvia” road-tram network, the “Encycla” bicycle system, and the low-emissions, natural-gas-fueled “Metroplus” bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, which are gradually being replaced by 100% pure electric buses.
Medellin gets virtually all its electric power from zero-emissions hydroelectric dams, with Medellin-based power utility EPM expanding capacity with the 2.4-gigawatt “Hidroituango” hydropower plant partially starting-up in late 2021.
Exito, EPM Team-up on EV Recharging
Meanwhile, Medellin-based multinational supermarket giant Exito has gradually expanded a network of public electric vehicle (EV) recharging stations in Medellin – initially at the Éxito Poblado supermarket and at the “Viva” mall in the Laureles neighborhood.
While only a handful of EVs exist in Medellin to-date, local car manufacturer Renault (and its joint-venture partner Nissan) is one of the world’s leading makers of mass-market EVs -- mainly in Europe, so far. Renault initially launched sales of its “Twizy” mini-EV here and then in 2018 debuted the "Zoe" EV four-passenger sedan. BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi and BYD also are marketing pure EVs here.
‘Pacifico 1’ Highway Construction Suffers Landslide Near Bolombolo; Reopening Not Until 2020
Thursday, 11 July 2019 17:52 Written by Roberto Peckham
The “Corvipacifico” construction consortium and highway authorities announced May 29, 2019 that a huge landslide near Sinifaná wrecked a 300-meters-long section of the under-construction “Pacifico 1” highway as well a nearby, 300-meters-long section of the existing highway between the southern Medellin suburb of Caldas and the town of Bolombolo alongside the Cauca River.
Officials estimate that the resulting road closures will take many more months to fix, forcing traffic to take longer, alternative routes likely through much of 2020.
The bad news overshadows earlier news from September 2018 that construction works had restarted on the long-delayed “Pacifico 1” highway between Medellin and Bolombolo.
That highway will connect via a new bridge across the Cauca River with the under-construction “Pacifico 2” highway linking Bolombolo to Primavera and then to “Pacifico 3” highway all the way to the main Pacific freight port of Buenaventura.
To facilitate construction on “Pacifico 1,” Corvipacifico had been closing the existing highway between Puerto Escondido and Bolombolo from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
According to Corfipacifico, construction also had begun on the two big tunnels for Pacifico 1 project, at Amagá (3.6- kilometers length) and Sinifaná (1.3-kilometers).
“These two tunnels that will cross the imposing and rugged geography of Antioquia will be added to the new generation of tunnels throughout Colombia,” according to the group.
The Sinifaná tunnel is three kilometers from the town center of Bolombolo, and the Amagá tunnel is located in the municipality of Amagá, a long-time center of artisanal coal extraction.
“The tunnels respectively will be equipped with all the technological equipment for their operation and control with the best safety specifications [including] a ventilation system, lighting, communications, variable signaling and fire protection,” according to the group.
“Following the excavation activities that began recently, we foresee completion in September 2019 in the case of the Sinifaná tunnel, and in September 2021 we foresee completion of the Amagá tunnel,” according to the group.
The COP$3.58 trillion (US$1.2 billion) “Pacifico 1” project reached financial close two years ago, but construction work has been extremely slow.
“Pacifico 1” will total 50.2 kilometers in length, including the two tunnels, 54 new bridges and three new intersections.
‘Pacifico 2,’ ‘Transversal de Las Americas’ Nearing Completion; Medellin Connections Improve
Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced April 10, 2019 the completion of a 14-kilometers-long, four-lane divided highway stretch between La Pintada and Puente Iglesias -- part of the 96-kilometers-long “Pacifico 2” upgrades linking Medellin southwestward toward the Pacific.
The latest completions also include a new, two-lane bypass around La Pintada (enabling travelers heading to or from Bolombolo to avoid the knotted city center) and 15 new bridges along the route, according to ANI.
The upgrades also will ease travels from La Pintada to Támesis, Valparaíso, Jericó, Fredonia, Venecia and Puente Iglesias, ANI noted.
Thanks to the latest upgrades, “Pacífico 2 highway has now completed two of five functional units and has achieved a total progress of 65%, which is 9% ahead of schedule,” according to ANI.
The entire “Pacífico 2” project – estimated for completion around mid-2020 -- is budgeted at COP$1.6 trillion (US$ million) including 42.5 kilometers of new roads, 2.5-kilometers of tunnel-ways (including the pioneering Tunel de Mulatos), 54 kilometers of rehabilitated roads and 43 bridges, the agency noted.
Transversal de las Américas (TdA) Update
On a related front, ANI announced April 8 that the 850-kilometers-long Transversal de las Américas (TdA) highway is now 97% complete, boosting freight-traffic efficiency between Antioquia and northern Atlantic ports.
“Among the works that will be ready this year are the new bridge over the Cimitarra River, which has an approximate length of 230 meters, as well as 30 kilometers of new road in the Cantagallo-San Pablo sector (Bolívar) and the completion of a second road in the Montería-El Quince sector (Córdoba),” according to ANI.
“With the transversal, the quality of life of the inhabitants of the regions of Magdalena, Antioquia, Córdoba, Bolívar, Sucre and Cesar improves,” the agency added.
Connecting roads along the transversal will improve travel to Urabá, Apartadó-Carepa and Currulao-Reposo, including a new, 26-kilometers-long road built in the sector of Turbo-Chigorodó due for completion in July, according to ANI.
The entire TdA project includes a new, connecting highway of 38.6 kilometers in length; another 138-kilometers-long stretch of new, two-lane road including two vehicular bridges over 200 meters in length; the 511-meters-long Talaigua Nuevo bridge; the new Cimitarra River bridge still under construction; and rehabilitation of existing roads along the route, according to ANI.
“In addition, it is expected that, along with projects such as the Túnel del Toyo and the Autopistas al Mar 1 (Medellín-Santa Fe de Antioquia-Cañasgordas-Santa Fe de Antioquia-Bolombolo) and Mar 2 (Cañasgordas-El Tigre- Necoclí), the Transversal de las Américas contributes to reducing travel time in the Medellín-Turbo logistics hub from seven to four hours,” according to ANI.
Aleatica SA subsidiary Autopista Rio Magdalena (ARM) announced April 8, 2019 that it has cancelled its highway construction contract with Obrascon Huarte Lain SA (OHL) and is seeking a new contractor.
The partially completed ARM highway project aims to connect Remedios in northern Antioquia with the “Ruta del Sol” fourth-generation (4g) highway via a new bridge over the Rio Magdalena near Puerto Berrio, Antioquia.
According to ARM, OHL allegedly failed to comply with contract terms including “significant delays” in construction works, despite a COP$150 billion (US$50 million) advanced given to OHL to push forward the project.
Aleatica has notified Colombia’s infrastructure-development oversight agency Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura (ANI) about the contract termination.
Meanwhile, Aleatica is working to find a new contractor in order to restart the project “as soon as possible,” according to the company.
So far, Aleatica has invested more than COP$600 billion (US$300 million) in the project, without tapping any government funds, according to the company.
The ARM project includes 155 kilometers of two-lane highway as well as a 1,360-meters-long bridge over the Rio Magdalena. The highway would boost competitiveness of Antioquia’s industries by improving access to Ruta del Sol and the Caribbean coast.
Aleatica is involved in 14 development projects covering 1,087 kilometers mainly in Latin America as well as Spain, with investments topping COP$17 billion (US$5.8 billion), according to the company, which is owned by 27 Australian pension funds and managed by IFM Investors.
Mar 1 financial close and Pacifico 1 2 3 ANI update March 2019
Thursday, 11 July 2019 17:34 Written by Roberto Peckham
Antioquia’s Crucial ‘Mar 1’ Wins Financial Close; Puerto Antioquia Wins Concession; Pacifico 1-2-3 Making Progress
Colombia’s Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez announced March 20 that the “Mar 1” highway project linking Medellin westward to Santa Fe de Antioquia -- and eventually to new Atlantic ports -- just won a COP$2.23 trillion (US$754 million) financial close organized by the “Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional” (FDN) financing agency.
On a related front, Vice President Ramirez simultaneously announced that the long-awaited “Puerto Antioquia” ocean freight port near Turbo, Antioquia, just won a 30-year concession.
That US$300 million port project will include construction of new piers and docking facilities for up to-five ocean ships simultaneously; a four-lane divided highway linking the dock area to terminal facilities; and onward highway linkages to the new “Mar 1” and Mar 2” highways that should be completed over the next six years -- hence bringing Medellin much closer to relatively lower-cost global freight transport.
The new port will handle containerized cargo, highway vehicles, grains, plantains and bananas, according to project developer PIO Sas, in association with global shipping and port-operator Naviera Francesa CMA CGM S.A., plus major regional banana growers.
Civil works on the project will be undertaken by France-based Eiffage Infraestructuras de Francia along wth Colombia-based Termotecnica Coindustrial.
As for the “Mar 1” financial partners, these include Blackrock; the Interamerican Development Bank (IBD) and IBD Invest; CAF; ICO; the German Development Bank (KFW); Sumitomo Mitsui Banking; and France-based Société Générale
Mar 1 includes rehabilitation and operation of existing highway between Santa Fe de Antioquia and Peñalisa (71 kilometers); construction and operation of a second lane between Medellín and Santa Fe de Antioquia (43 kilometers); the construction and operation of a 4.6-kilometers-long, parallel tunnel (adjacent to the existing Tunnel de Occidente) linking Medellin westward toward Santa Fe de Antioquia; and the construction of 46 bridges.
Once completed, Mar 1 (and the connecting “Mar 2” project) will enable Medellin freight shippers and Colombian coffee exporters to tap a much quicker route to Atlantic ports in the Urabá region of Antioquia.
Today, vehicle transport from Medellín to Necoclí on the Atlantic ocean takes eight hours. But once Mar 1 and Mar 2 are complete, then transport time will be cut to four hours, according to Colombia’s Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura (ANI).
Construction companies in the Mar 1 project include Austria-based Strabag and its Swiss-based subsididary Strabag AG Switzerland (with 37.5% share); Sacyr (Sacyr Concessions Colombia and Sacyr Concesiones S.L.) with 37.5%, and Colombia-based Concay, S.A. with 25%.
Pacifico 1-2-3 Projects
On a related front, ANI president Louis Kleyn announced earlier this month that the 293-kilometers-long Pacifico 1-2-3 highways linking Medellin to other highways connecting to the Pacific port of Buenaventura continue to make progress -- although completion on “Pacifico 1” between Medellin and Bolombolo isn’t likely until around 2023.
Currently, freight trucks face a grueling, 15-hour-journey to-and-from Medellin to Buenaventura. But the new Pacifico highways would cut that to 10 hours, according to ANI.
Linking Medellin to the Pacific region on modern, four-lane highways -- including many new tunnels and bridges -- will generate “more international trade from the green mountains that connect southwest Antioquia and the coffee region,” according to ANI.
“The progress in the construction of this great corridor is the result of rigorous and disciplined management in social, environmental, property and contract areas, [along with] confidence generated by banks and investors, both domestic and foreign,” according to the agency.
“To date, Pacífico 1 -- the corridor connecting Bolombolo with La Primavera [Medelliin suburb of Caldas] has an execution of 15%, while Pacífico 2 (connecting Bolombolo to La Pintada) has achieved 64% execution, and Pacífico 3 (La Pintada to La Virginia in Risaralda) has advanced by 54%. These three projects total 119 fronts of active works,” according to ANI.
The works will efficiently connect the centers of inputs and production in the north of the country with the coffee zone, the Valle del Cauca and the Pacific Ocean, will benefit the producers and merchants of the departments of Magdalena, Atlántico, Bolívar, Córdoba, Sucre and Antioquia, in the decrease of travel times.
The department of Antioquia has 1,530 km of national road network, it has a strategic location, not only because of its size, but also because of the maritime and fluvial limits and especially the proximity to rivers such as Cauca and Atrato. Therefore, the 4G tracks that are built and those that will cross it are fundamental for the region, since they will promote social progress and become bridges of international trade.
Currently, the travel time of a truck loaded with cargo from Medellín to Buenaventura can take 15 hours, but with the construction of these projects it will be reduced to 10 hours. The time between Manizales and Medellín will also be reduced, from 4 hours and a half to 2 and a half hours, and from the municipality of La Virginia, in Risaralda, to Medellín, it will go from 5 hours 30 minutes to 2 hours 40 minutes, on average.
EPM: DESIGN FLAW CAUSED HIDROITUANGO TUNNEL COLLAPSE; RECOVERY UNDERWAY
Medellin-based multinational electric power giant EPM on March 1, 2019 unveiled a long-awaited consultant’s report on the causes behind the April 2018 tunnel collapse that has resulted in a three-year delay in power output from the 2.4-gigawatt “Hidroituango” hydroelectric plant in Antioquia.
“The results determine that the hypothesis of greater probability is that the obstruction of the auxiliary diversion tunnel (GAD) was due to the ‘progressive erosion of areas of weakness of the rock,’ located on the floor of the tunnel,” according to EPM, quoting the report from Norwegian-Chilean engineering consulting firm Skava Consulting.
“The zones of weakness of the rock were not treated properly, due to a deficiency in the design during the advisory stage,” which was undertaken by Ituango Generation Consortium (Integral - Solingral),” according to EPM’s summary of the study.
A full copy of the study is available here: https://www.epm.com.co/site/estudio-causa-raiz-hidroituango
“The study, which employed scientific methods, was only aimed at analyzing the root cause of a specific event: the plugging in the auxiliary diversion tunnel (GAD) structure that had been in operation since September 2017,” according to EPM.
For the Skava report, seven German, Swiss and Chilean engineers with more than 25 years experience undertook a geotechnical engineering study tapping their expertise in tunnels and dams, in rock engineering, in geology and hydrology, and in civil engineering for mining projects, metering systems and hydroelectric power plants, according to EPM.
“The auxiliary GAD diversion tunnel, which was supposed to operate temporarily, was planned from the end of 2013 -- when the original diversion tunnels were still under construction -- as an alternative that would avoid an additional delay of one year or more in the construction of the main works,” according to EPM’s summary.
When EPM took over the project via a build-own-operate-maintain-transfer (BOOMT) contract in March 2011, “the project schedule already had considerable delays, which could affect [Colombia’s] energy supply,” the company noted.
“The results of this study do not impact the recovery process of the project, in which we continue to work tirelessly. The Ituango hydroelectric project advances in its recovery and in the reduction of risks for people living below the main works.
“If everything progresses as planned, it will contribute electric power [to the national grid] from the year 2021,” EPM concluded.
Blame Games Begin
Meanwhile, a host of Colombia regulatory agencies have already begun piling-on accusations against former EPM and Hidroituango officials over the tunnel collapse and the inevitable economic impacts on consumers and the city of Medellin, which gets 25% of its annual revenues from EPM.
The three-year delay in lost power sales, plus clean-up and reconstruction costs, likely will add at least US$1 billion to the original US$4-billion to US$5-billion cost estimate for the project.
Colombia Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez announced February 27 that he’s planning to bring charges against former Hidroituango SA manager Luis Guillermo Gómez Atehortua, and former EPM-Ituango manager Luis Javier Vélez Duque for alleged failure to meet legal contract requirements.
In addition, Martinez announced that he’s also considering bringing charges against six other former officials connected to the project, including former EPM E.S.P. manager Juan Esteban Calle Restrepo and former Hidroituango project board members Ana Cristina Moreno Palacios, Hugo Alejandro Mora Tamayo, Juan Felipe Gaviria Gutiérrez, Jesus Arturo Aristizábal, and Maximiliano Valderrama Espinosa.
The Attorney General’s investigations focus on the project contracting process and environmental damage arising from construction and the subsequent tunnel collapse in 2018.
The Attorney General stated that preliminary investigations have discovered “improper management of solid waste” that “had a negative impact on natural resources with effects such as the quality, quantity and fluidity of the water; the erosion of the soil and the eventual instability of the mountain” adjacent to the dam.
“During the execution of the project there were contingencies that would have been rejected by those in charge of the project, who would not have had the capacity to attend them because they were prepared for a situation of lesser dimension,” according to the Attorney General.
The Attorney General’s investigation has “identified alleged inconsistencies from the beginning of the project as alleged anomalies in the pre-contractual phase and alleged deficiencies in the execution of the contracts, the studies of design and execution of the work, as well as in the additions authorized to the signing contractor,” according to Martinez.
In response to the allegations, EPM issued a statement saying that it has “acted transparently and within the framework of what the law allows. The company reiterates its permanent disposition to collaborate with the Attorney General’s Office in its investigative process, and with all the control entities that are [regulating] the Hidroituango project, as it has done so far.”
CGR Probe
A parallel investigation now underway by Colombia's Controller General of the Republic (CGR) finds that to date, the cost of the Hidroituango project is close to COP$11.5 trillion [US$3.7 billion], "of which 38.23% (more than COP$4.3 trillion/US$1.4 billion) correspond to EPM's own resources. The remaining 61.77% comes from debt with multilateral banks, equivalent to almost COP$7.1 billion [US$2.3 billion].
"The CGR will estimate the additional costs that will be generated in the future due to deficiencies and adverse situations that have arisen during the planning and development of the project," according to the agency.
