The Colombian Ministry of Transport, Jorge Eduardo Rojas Giraldo, has announced financial close for the Bucaramanga - Barrancabermeja - Yondó road PPP, which from part of the second wave of 4G highway projects.

The project will run through Bucaramanga, Lebrija, Girón, San Vicente de Chucurí, Sabana de Torres, Betulia and Barrancabermeja in Santander, and Yondó in Antioquia. It involves the development of a 151.61 km highway and it includes the construction of 2 tunnels and 22 bridges, among others.

In July 2015, Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) selected Estructura Plural  Cintra- Concesia as the preferred bidder for the project. The winning team is composed of Cintra Infraestructuras Colombia SAS (40%); RM Holdings SAS (30%) and MC Victorias Tempranas (30%). 

The total project investment is estimated at P1.68 billion (US$625 million). The concessionaire credited the financial closure of the project with loans up to COP980,000 million (US$333 million) from Bancolombia and BBVA.

The second wave of 4G highway projects includes a total of 9 concessions. This second wave includes a total investment of about P11,800 billion (US$4.64 billion). 4G involves the construction of about 8,000 km of roads, including 1,200km of four-lane highways, with the majority of projects to be carried out as PPPs. 

This project becomes the fifth of the second wave of concessions to reach financial close.