Infrastructure is a vital sector for economic development as stated by the national government. In the last decade, Colombia has implemented a development policy through strategic infrastructure projects which have allowed the attraction of private capital flows. Likewise, the institutional framework has been strengthened to improve the allocation of risks and thereby protect FDI.
According to Economist Impact and IDB's Infrascope 2021/22, Colombia ranks 4th among Latin American and Caribbean countries. This benchmarking evaluates the capacity of countries to implement sustainable and efficient public-private partnerships PPPs in key infrastructure sectors, mainly transport, energy, water and sanitation, and social infrastructure, evidenced in investment opportunities by 2035 of around USD 60 B in road infrastructure, as well as USD 5.7 B in airport expansion projects, USD 3.4 B in the rehabilitation of rail infrastructure, USD 1.6 B in river infrastructure and USD 433 M in port infrastructure.
Since 2012 with Law 1508, Colombia has been using the Public-Private Partnerships PPPs as the main mechanism for the development of infrastructure in Colombia. Colombia has been recognized as the 3rd country in the world for the development of projects under the PPP scheme by the World Bank ranking in 2020. The PPP scheme is used with the purpose of promoting private investment inflows to infrastructure projects, as well as strengthening the legal framework.
Due to COVID´s health emergency, the National Infrastructure Agency ANI launched the first wave of 5G projects as a strategy for economic reactivation, which included 14 initiatives to develop road network, railway, airport, and fluvial infrastructure. These projects aim completing key corridors for Colombia´s foreign trade and connect north to south of the country with multimodality services. The 5G projects will be based upon 4 pillars that include environmental, social, financial, and institutional sustainability.
In the last two years, 7 out of 14 5G concessions have been awarded. In fact, 6 of them were road corridors and 1 fluvial project. Through this, it is expected to generate nearly 330.000 jobs and investments close to USD 3 B.
Colombia has a dynamic infrastructure secondary market, which allows the entry of foreign investment capital funds into ongoing projects with stable and safe profitability.
