Colombia’s delayed La Linea Tunnel and tertiary road development programme seeing progress

Progress is now being seen in Colombia with regard to key tunnel and road projects. A consortium comprising Conconcreto and 3222 CSS Constructores is to complete the 12% of work still needed to finish the La Linea Tunnel project. The consortium is called Consorcio La Linea and the US$73.8 million deal was awarded by the National Road Institute (2812 Invias). The consortium will have to complete work on the delayed project by 2018. In addition, Consorcio La Linea will also build a second lane on the Calarca and Cajamarca stretch of road.

The La Linea Tunnel project has suffered from a catalogue of woes since it was planned, with a series of delays and stoppages for a diverse array of reasons. These have included problems arising from unexpectedly challenging geological conditions as well as the wrong kind of insurance cover for the project. The latest in the sorry series of delays occurred when Colombian contractor Constructora Carlos Collins stopped its work on the project earlier this year, resulting in a new tender being required to finish the construction of the tunnel.

Overall, the consortium is expected to finish the pre-construction stage by August 2017, before submitting final studies and designs in late September 2017. Consequently, the project developer will be required to assess the existing works and complete all preparations before the end of November 2017.

Meanwhile work is continuing on the plan to upgrade 2,500km of tertiary roads across the country. Funding worth some $427.4 million looks likely to be diverted towards road development, with this having been reassigned from the Science, Technology and Innovation Fund. The Colombian Government has yet to finalise this process. In addition, 3213 Colombia's National Planning Department (DNP) has also released a report on the rural road development plan. The DNP's calculations reveal that additional funding will be required to pay for a further 900km of work required. The funding available so far could only finance 1,600km of the roads needing repairs and improvements and scheduled between 2017 and 2018. Colombia's Transport Ministry has said that it will set up a priority list of the most important routes needing improvement work. The tender processes will then be established in line with the regulations from Invias.