A $639 billion dam remains out of commission in the north of the country, triggering a disciplinary process after years of court rulings.
The Attorney General’s Office opened a disciplinary investigation against former congressman César Pachón, president of the Rural Development Agency (ADR), for alleged contempt of a court order from the Administrative Court of La Guajira and the Council of State.
Although the process was born in the courts in 2018, with a popular action by the Public Ministry, the antecedents date back to before. The Regional Autonomous Corporation of La Guajira (Corpoguajira), the highest environmental authority in the department, authorized a key megaproject in 2005.
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Corpoguajira gave the now liquidated Colombian Institute of Rural Development (Incoder) an environmental license to build a dam on the Ranchería River and, thus, supply the aqueducts of San Juan del Cesar, Fonseca, Barrancas, Maicao, Manaure, Uribia, Albania, Distracción and Hato Nuevo.
Incoder entered into liquidation that ended in 2016, and all the obligations it had were distributed between the National Land Agency (ANT) and the ADR. After an investment of 639 billion pesos, the dam was built between 2006 and 2010, but it never worked.
Source: Integrated Information System
