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Odebretch-led Navalena consortium has partnered with Goldman Sachs in order to structure the financing of the Magdalena River Waterway PPP.

With Goldman Sachs' support, Navalena consortium finally expects to reach the financial close for the project.

Odebrecht included in its proposal to Cormagdalena, Colombia's Magdalena river regional autonomous corporation, the new partners that would enter into the project (the name and stakes of each are still confidential).

In April, we informed that the Navelena consortium, formed by Odebrecht (87%) and Colombia's Valorcon (13%) submitted a financial plan for the project but the Colombian Government rejected it, considering that the plan was insufficient and it did not prove that financial close would be reached. 

In May we reported that Odebrecht decided to leave its 87 percent stake in the consortium, which was the only bidder in the final stage of a tender process for the project. 

This announcement came after Marcelo Odebrecht resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. After 6 months in detention and given the developments in his court case, Marcelo Odebrecht, on 11 December, decided to formally resign from his post. This was part of a huge anti-corruption investigation, which stemmed from a bribery scheme at Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA or Petrobras. 

The project, awarded the project to the Navelena consortium in 2014, would be developed through the public-private partnership (PPP) model on design, build, finance, operation and maintenance (DBFOM) basis. It is estimated that construction work would take about six years. The total project investment is estimated at COP2500 billion (US$828.9 million).

Upon completion of the project, the river would have a depth of seven feet and could transport convoys of up to 7,200 tons (the equivalent of about 234 trucks). The river basin has a 27.3Mha surface area, equivalent to 24% of the country's continental territory.