Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has awarded the Sea highway 1 'Autopista al Mar 1′ PPP project to Estructura Plural SAC 4G.

Estructura Plural SAC 4G is a consortium composed of Sacyr Colombia S.A.S.  (37.5%), Strabag S.A.S. (37.5%) and Concay S.A. (25%). The team beat out competition for two other shortlisted consortia: Estructura Plural Cintra Concesia and Estructura Plural VINCC DE Urabá 1.

The project will connect the city of Medellín and the Sea highway 2 "Autopista al Mar 2". The project involves the construction of 17 tunnels and 41 bridges. It includes the following road stretches that add up 176 km:

• Occidente-San Jerónimo,
• San Jerónimo-Santafé de Antioquia and
• Bolombolo-Santafé de Antioquia.

The total project investment is estimated at P1.46 billion (US$557 million).

The project, which belongs to the 'Autopistas para la Prosperidad' package of highway projects, is part of the second wave of 4G highway projects, including 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 8,000km of roads, including 1,200km of four-lane highways, with the majority of projects to be carried out as PPPs.

Yesterday we reported that Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) had proposed financing for the East Cundinamarca bypass concession, a 153 km north-south arterial road in the eastern sector of Bogotá. The total project investment is estimated at US$700 million. ADB has proposed  an A loan of up to U$175 million.

Yesterday we also reported about three other transport PPP projects globally:

• PPP project for licensing commercial operations of the Limassol port - Cyprus
• N18 Groenlo-Enschede highway PPP project - Netherlands
• Maryland Light Rail Purple Line P3 - USA