Washington, D.C., August 5, 2010
— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the government of Colombia today announced the completion of the third and final concession for Ruta del Sol, a 1,071 km highway between the nation’s interior and the Caribbean coast that will link Colombia’s main agricultural, industrial and urban centers.
The final concession was awarded to Yuma Concesionaria S.A. PSF, a consortium led by the Italian construction company Impregilo and the financial group Bancolombia. The $900 million project involves rehabilitating, expanding and operating an existing 464 km, single-lane section of the highway. Revenues will be derived from a combination of tolls and availability payments with the term of the concession capped at 25 years.
“Awarding the contracts has been a highly competitive process, with excellent domestic and international bidders, who were offered full guarantees of transparency, equality of conditions, and professional evaluation of their proposals,” said Andres Uriel Gallego Henao, Colombia Minister of Transport. “The government is very satisfied with the results of the bidding processes for a project that will greatly benefit the entire country.”
With a total investment of $2.7 billion, Ruta del Sol will promote Colombia’s sustainable development and economic growth by improving the country’s primary road network. It is one of Colombia’s largest infrastructure projects to date and one of the largest in the region. The road passes through 39 municipalities, handling traffic from urban centers such as Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Bucaramanga. The project is expected to reduce travel time along the route by approximately three hours, thereby increasing road safety and cutting transportation costs. In addition, Ruta del Sol will provide rural communities with better access to many parts of the country.
“Ruta del Sol shows Colombia’s commitment to addressing its infrastructure needs and the value of private sector partnerships in providing services and meeting those needs,” said Richard Cabello, Head of IFC Advisory Services in Public Private Partnerships. “IFC is confident Ruta de Sol will take the country to new levels of competitiveness and lead to a more sustainable future for the Colombian people.”
In Colombia, IFC’s strategy focuses on supporting sectors that are essential to social and economic development, including infrastructure, health, education, and public-private partnerships in transportation, renewable energy, and water and sanitation. As of June 2010, IFC’s committed portfolio in Colombia was $1.06 billion.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About the Ruta del Sol Project
IFC structured the three-concession project in cooperation with the Instituto Nacional de Concesiones - INCO , of Colombia’s Ministry of Transportation. Originally conceived by INCO as one concession, the project was divided into three parts due to its magnitude and the need to mitigate investor risk during the global financial crisis. Each part was tendered as a separate concession.
The first section, involving the construction and operation of a new, 78 km, two-lane road, was awarded to a consortium led by Colombian construction firms Grupo Solarte and ConConcreto S.A. and the Argentina’s Iecsa S.A. The second section, involving the rehabilitation, expansion to double lane, operation and maintenance of an existing, 528 km road, was awarded to a consortium led by Brazil’s Constructora Norberto Odebrecht and the Colombian financial group Corficolombiana.
IFC involvement in the multi-stage project also included the hiring and supervision of international and local engineering, traffic, environmental and social/land acquisition consultants to carry out the project’s due diligence and prepare detailed studies for structuring and market information purposes.
