The contract for the construction, operation and maintenance of Colombia’s Doble Calzada Oriente (DCO) dual carriageway has now been awarded. The concession package will be handled jointly by three firms, Conconcreto, Castro Tcherassi and Procopal. The companies have stakes of 60%, 30% and 10% in the package respectively.
The project is being handled under the PPP model and building the new dual carriageway link is expected to take 36 months to complete at an estimated cost of US$146.2 million. The 13.7km dual carriageway section will link the Aburra Valley with Jose Maria Cordova Airport. The airport is one of two serving the city of Medellin and handles international flights. Building the new dual carriageway will improve transport to and from the airport, reducing congestion on surrounding local roads and also cutting journey times by as much as 40%.
Meanwhile, excavation work for the last tunnel of the Cruce de la Cordillera Central highway project has been completed. The construction of the route includes erecting 31 bridges, boring 25 tunnels, building three interchanges and 30km of dual carriageway. The road will connect Cajamarca (Tolima) and Calarca (Quindio) and is costing $848 million to build.
And work on the 1.36km bridge that spans the Magdalena River and links Puerto Berrio in Antioquia with Cimitarra in Santander is now close to completion. The structure features a lane for traffic running in either direction as well as facilities for vulnerable road users and lies on the route of the Autopista Rio Magdalena 2 highway. The bridge should be ready for traffic from mid-2021.
