A void PPP
After the National Infrastructure Agency (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura) declared the Magdalena River PPP process void in June of this year, the national government assured working on long-term solutions for guaranteeing the navigability of the river.
The objective of the PPP was that the improvement and maintenance works and the project’s operation between Barrancabermeja and Barranquilla, would be assumed by a private sector actor, for a period of 15 years and at the cost of COP$1.5 billion.
National Government Commitment
Since the XIII Encuentro Regional de Infraestructura, held in Barranquilla on October 26, 2022, the Government, through the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Maria Constanza García, said it contemplated the development of the project to recover the navigability of the Magdalena River, by public works (Obra pública), ruling out the implementation of a PPP, considering the failed experiences related to the project.
García made a statement on the budgetary availability of COP$20,000,000,000 for the maintenance of the access channel to the port area of Barranquilla, the continuity of the dredging and the extension of the agreement between Cormagdalena and Findeter, and the purchase, by the Government, of the dredge for the maintenance of the channel.
The commitment was to evaluate and seek resources for projects in the Caribbean Region sector, such as the recovery of the navigability of the Magdalena River, with 100% financing from the national budget.
Additionally, the former Minister of Finance, Mauricio Cárdenas, expressed the need to develop an infrastructure investment plan for the Government to encourage this and other projects, and to face the announced economic recession.
New hope
Despite the commitments of the Government, the deserted awarding of the Magdalena River PPP generated uncertainty and suffering on the Atlantic coast since the work would no longer be possible.
However, the project's development, not through PPP but through public works, as stated by the Vice-Ministry of Infrastructure at the time, is the most convenient alternative to guarantee the project's planning, performing, and operation.
Cormagdalena is the entity that is currently structuring the new project to maintain and guarantee the constant removal of sedimentation in the 668 kilometers of the Magdalena River, for which it no longer considers the PPP as an option for the project.
What’s next
The project is currently in the initial structuring phase, which will last until the first half of 2023, when it is expected to have all the technical details to start tendering. In addition to allowing the continuity in the dredging of the river, the project will also allow the intervention in the access works of the Barranquilla channel, and develop channeling works between Barrancabermeja and Barranquilla, to reduce the demand for dredging.
The project will contemplate the construction of a dredge manufactured in Colombia, owned by the State. It will be independent of foreign companies that generally have the capacity to exhibit this kind of equipment. The construction of this dredge is estimated to take approximately 3 and a half years.
After structuring, Cormagdalena expects to have authorizations from the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Department by mid-2023 to start its development by the end of the second half of next year.
