This Tuesday, the National Government delivered the Neiva-Espinal-Girardot corridor, a work that is part of the list of 4G infrastructure projects in charge of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI).
(Some 16 PPP projects are lining up for approval.)
This is the eighth installment of the Duque period, which is added to the deliveries already made of Girardot-Honda-Puerto Salgar, Circunvalar de la Prosperidad, Puerta de Hierro-Palmar de Varela and Carreto-Cruz del Viso, Pacific 2, Transversal del Sisga, Vías del Nus and Mar 1.
“This road is important because it is perhaps one of the most beautiful in the country. They are almost 200 km with investments for almost a billion pesos. It is our eighth 4G route delivered in our government and that we did in the middle of a pandemic, but it is thanks to the strength of the workers and the commitment of the dealers”, said Iván Duque Márquez, President of the Republic.
The project contemplated the construction of 44 bridges, six pedestrian bridges, a second carriageway of 76.38 km, the improvement of 21 km, the construction of 3.5 km of new single carriageway, the rehabilitation of 170 km, and of course the operation and maintenance of the 198.35 km that are part of the project. The construction of 76.38 km of second lanes was between: Neiva and Aipe, in Huila; and between Saldaña-Espinal, in the department of Tolima.
“The execution and materialization of these works simply translate into benefits for Colombians, since this project is characterized by the reduction in travel times between Neiva and Girardot of one hour, going from 3:30 hours to 2:30 hours, about. In this way we are connecting more families in less time”, assured Ángela María Orozco, Minister of Transport.
(Seven 4G routes pending to be reactivated).
With this corridor, it is expected that the connectivity of the center of the country with the coffee and rice production centers of the departments of Huila and Tolima will improve.
“This project granted by the National Infrastructure Agency benefits more than 603,000 inhabitants of 10 municipalities of Tolima and Huila. These are Rivera, Palermo, Neiva and Aipe, in Huila and Natagaima, Coyaima, Saldaña, Guamo, El Espinal and Flandes, in Tolima”, added Manuel Felipe Gutiérrez, president of the ANI.
Another of the benefits generated by the project is in the generation of jobs and currently registers 2,541 active jobs, with people who carry out activities in different vital areas for the development of the project.
NEW WORKS PLAN: NEIVA-MOCOA-SANTANA CORRIDOR
The Government also announced the start of the New Works Plan for the Neiva-Mocoa-Santana project, a 456 km corridor and investments of $4.1 billion pesos, of which $1.77 billion are under construction (capex as of Dec. 2021).
This corridor belonging to the Fourth Generation of Concessions program was in a normalization period, which is now ending, and with which “critical points” were managed. With the signing of the beginning of the New Works Plan, the construction of four variants will advance in the corridor, among them the Gigante, the Bridge in Betania Sur and intersections. The rehabilitation of the entire road corridor will also be carried out.
Once the works are completed, a travel time saving of 2 hours between Neiva and Santana is estimated; In addition, the vehicles will have significant savings in fuel and maintenance. Similarly, a saving of 2.5 hours of travel time between San Miguel (border with Ecuador) and Bogotá is expected, reducing the final journey to 18 hours.
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