The future of the Rafael Núñez International Airport of Cartagena is in dispute. The National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) claims to the District Mayor’s Office The necessary permits to advance the extension and modernization of the contract terminal that is already ongoing, While Mayor Dumek Turbay defends that The city must prioritize the construction of a new airport in Bayunca. For experts, the lack of agreements maintains the works and the air connectivity of one of the country’s main tourist destinations paralyzed.
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The position of the National Infrastructure Agency
In a trade dated September 23, 2025 and addressed to Mayor Dumek Turbay and several district units, The ANI requested a comprehensive pronouncement on the availability and occupation of public space required for the execution of the APP concession contract No. 001 of 2023. The entity recalled that the Rafael Núñez extension project was declared public utility and social interest through Resolution ANI of March 31, 2023.
The document indicates that, despite multiple communications and meetings since 2024, “The absence of background and unified response by the district administration persists.” ANI argues that administrative indefinition It compromises the contractual schedule and limits the ability of Cartagena to respond to the growth of tourism.
It is worth remembering that the airport mobilized 7.5 million passengers in 2024, a figure that exceeded the design capacity provided for project structuring. According to official data, in 2025 passenger flow presents a 3 % growth on national and 5 % flights in international, which, in the words of the entity“Evidence the need to move forward with the expansion and modernization of the terminal to respond to increasing demand.”
The trade also describes the complex route of procedures advanced by the OINAC concessionaire before different district units, including the Urban Control Administrative Department, the Logistic Support Directorate, the Public Space Management, the Ministry of Planning and the General Secretariat. In all cases, according to the ANIa substantive response was not obtained that defined the competent authority or the legal instruments for the occupation of the land included in the public utility strip.
The agency called on the mayor of Cartagena so that, within the framework of its powers, it issues a unified pronouncement that requires the legal nature of the land, the viability of its assignment, the occupation permits and the additional actions necessary to enable the start of the works. The president of the ANI, Óscar Javier Torres, reiterated that “Guarantee the expansion and modernization of the airport is not only an infrastructure issue, but a city decision that directly impacts employment generation, the strengthening of the local economy and the increase in tourism.”
An expert close to the process, which preferred not to be cited, He assured that the concessionaire began the constructive stage in March of this year after completing the pre -constructive phase, which included property acquisition and design adjustments. However, barely the work enclosures were made, “The Mayor’s Office arrived, made an inspection and canceled that enclosure.” The same expert said that the concessionaire filed a right of petition to obtain clarity on the required permits and warned that, if the situation is prolonged, “It is possible that the contract explodes, which would cause the airport to pass to the aerocivil and stop giving the airport consideration.”
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The new concession will be for 8.5 years and is expected to award in the middle of this year.
The vision of Mayor Dumek Turbay
However, for his part, the mayor of Cartagena, Dumek Turbay, has been emphatic in his opposition to the expansion of the current airport. In statements to local media he said that he will not authorize a project that, according to him, “The rights of the people are carried ahead” from the Crespo neighborhood, a community near the air terminal.
In his X account, Turbay said the ANI, Under the public utility argument, it demands the assignment of community roads and spaces, something that qualifies as harmful to neighbors: “That neighborhood has already yielded too much, it is strangled and it can’t hold further load.”
The local president insists that the city must project a Hub airport in Bayunca, Able to respond to tourism growth. “Cartagena does not need a recessed airport in a residential neighborhood, but an infrastructure that projects international competitiveness”he said.
Turbay recalled that For more than 20 months the approval of the project of a new airport in Bayunca has been discussed with the national governmentcurrently private initiative in Review in the ANI. “On the Airport of Cartagena, we have been discussing with the National Government for more than 20 months, through the ANI, so that the execution of the new airport in Bayunca is finally approved, the true hub outside the urban perimeter that needs the main tourist destination of the country, and one of the most important in the region”he said.
The mayor considers that the expansion in Crespo is “inconvenient” because it does not solve the structural needs of the city and generates affectations to a residential neighborhood that, in its words, “It is strangled and collapsed.” Faced with this situation, he said: “Expansion no; New Airport, yes.”
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View of the Cartagena airport.
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It is worth remembering that The Bayunca airport project is currently in the structuring phase, which, in the best case, would make Cartagena have a new air terminal in at least 5 more years, If this is awarded in less than a year and does not present setbacks in its constructive stage.
A dispute that keeps Cartagena’s aerial future
Since last April 29, three days after a meeting between Mayor Turbay and the community of Crespo, the district had already imposed a suspension seal on an advanced enclosure work as part of the extension project. The measure was based on the fact that the operator did not present the corresponding authorization to execute the work on the property with cadastral reference 010205540006000.
The decision was interpreted by the concessionaire as a sign that the Mayor’s Office will not support the necessary permits. In addition, according to the expert consulted, the mayor has reiterated on different occasions that he is not interested in authorizing the extension or modernization of Rafael Núñez, because his priority is Bayunca.
ANI, meanwhile, warns that the lack of clear decisions about the use of public spaces included in the public utility strip “It puts the city’s ability to respond to the growing tourist demand and maintain its international position.”
The tension between both positions leaves in uncertainty the development of the APP concession contract No. 001 of 2023, awarded in March last year. While the concessionaire claims to have advanced in the preconstructive stage and be ready to execute the works, the City Hall suspends the authorization of permits on the required public space. If not, the airport administration would go to civil aeronautics when expired to the current contract.
Paula Galeano Balaguera
Portfolio journalist
