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The consortium "Concesionaria Vial Unión del Sur", formed by Sacyr Concesiones Colombia SAS (60%) and Herdoiza Crespo Construcciones Colombia SAS (40%), has announced the financial close of the Rumichaca - Pasto highway PPP project.

As we reported, The Colombian National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) awarded, in late June 2015, the contract to develop the PPP project to the "Concesionaria Vial Unión del Sur" consortium.

The funding commitments for the COP1.5 trillion (US$510 million) project have been provided by Banco Santander S.A and JP-Morgan Chase Bank.

The project involves the development of a new 80 km highway. The project includes, among others, the development of 7 tunnels and about 30 bridges. It is expected that the travel time between Rumichaca and Pasto will be reduced from 2 hours to 1 hour.

This is the sixth project to achieve financial closure within the second wave of 4G highway projects, which includes 10 concessions. 4G involves the construction of 8,000 km of roads, including 1,200 km of four-lane highways, with the majority of projects to be carried out as PPPs.

In October, we have also  informed  about the financial closure for the Popayán - Santander de Quilichao road PPP and the Bucaramanga - Barrancabermeja - Yondó road PPP, which are both part of the second wave of 4G highway projects.