Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency, ANI, has awarded the Santander de Quilichao - Popayán road PPP project to Estructura Plural Hidalgo e Hidalgo consortium.

Estructura Plural Hidalgo e Hidalgo is composed of Hidalgo e Hidalgo Sucursal Colombia, Hidalgo e Hidalgo Colombia SAS, Cass Constructores & Cia SCA and Carlos Alberto Solarte Solarte. The team beat out competition from Autopistas del Suroccidente SPV, a consortium made up KMA Construcciones, Ortiz Construcciones y Protectos SA, Equipos Universal SA and Obresca SAS.

The project involves the development of a new 76 km road that includes, among others, the development about 23 bridges and 21 junctions.

The total project investment is estimated at P1,200 billion (US$470.6 million).

The new road will improve the mobility of the southwestern region as well as the connection with Ecuador. The travel time between Santander de Quilichao and Popayán is expected to be reduced from 2 hour to 1 hours.

The project is part of the second phase of the fourth generation (4G) Program of highway concessions. The second wave of 4G highway projects includes 10 concessions. 4G involves the construction of 8,000km of roads, including 1,200km of four-lane highways, with the majority of projects to be carried out as PPPs.