Post date: 2024-04-19 04:50:21
During the meeting, the importance of uniting 5 departments in the south-east of the country was detailed to the attending communities, through a macro road connection project that has a value of 25 billion pesos and reaches 1,490 kilometers in length.
2024-04-19 04:50:21
A parliamentary effort by Commission VI of the Senate of the Republic, with senators Gustavo Moreno and Carlos Julio González, managed to hold a public hearing in the city of Neiva, which was called, ‘Orinoquía-Pacific Connection, for Deep Colombia ‘, and that, with the help of the governor of Huila, aroused the interest of the communities of the departments that would be linked to that road corridor.
The event took place at the Andaquíes Club of the Neiva Cooperative University, a place attended by various political, social, economic and community actors from the departments of Huila, Valle del Cauca, Tolima, Meta and Vichada, the territories that would be directly impacted by this macro road infrastructure project.
“This is a work that has a value of 25 billion pesos and whose road extension reaches 1,490 kilometers connecting the people of Huila with the neighboring departments of the south-east of the country. This project would change the history of Colombia, compromising the development of the highland, eastern plains, Andean and Pacific regions,” highlighted the governor of Huila, Rodrigo Villalba Mosquera.
“This is a project that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. It has all the benefits uniting 5 departments. It is a road project that offers enormous possibilities in agriculture, in agro tourism. It is an opportunity for all political, economic, and social actors to actively participate in this magnificent development proposal for the regions and of strategic importance at the country level,” he added.
The leader of the people of Huila also said that, if in Antioquia there are high investments for roads that interconnect their capital with different exits and entrances to that department, why not dream the same with Huila.
“I have seen with great envy how development plans like the one in the department of Antioquia put 28 billion pesos into a single road, which are tunnels and road corridors that connect Medellín with various regions.
Why not fight together to make this Orinoquía – Pacífico connection, a project worth between 20 and 30 billion pesos, which can be carried out in several terms of different governments. It is worth it because it is a project of great social and economic value,” he concluded.
The first transversal of Colombia
Meanwhile, the Vice Minister of Transportation, Luis Alejandro Zambrano, stated that this first transversal road in Colombia has already been studied through a consultancy contracted with ProPacífico, with the technical support of the National Development Finance Company (FDN) and prepared by the firm Geonómica Consultores, with which more than 25% of its layout has already been built.
“It is a project that will impact 9 million inhabitants of the departments that are direct beneficiaries. According to the consultancy, it would require an investment amounting to $25 billion, and, in the short term, it would bring economic benefits of around $7 billion. With this project, at least 250,000 new jobs could be generated, which would boost several economic sectors,” said senior government official Petro.
He also said that in the Colombian Orinoquía, contracts are executed with INVIAS for around $1.5 Billion, as well as in the Colombian Pacific with the ANI, but in the central area of the macroproject there is no investment in work by the national government, so which would be an interesting bet for the development of this part of the country.
The country would increase its agricultural frontier
According to the consultant for this project, the work will also allow the country to increase its agricultural frontier by up to 4 million hectares, in addition to a decrease of approximately 27% in the cost of transporting a ton from Puerto Carreño to Buenaventura. among other benefits.
The study also points out that the development of the great agricultural potential of the area of direct influence of the project brings substitution of imports with a broad export base, and that, towards the south of the country, there is an absence of transversal connections (East – West), which limits the development of these very productive territories.
It is imperative for Colombia to work on these connections in order to incorporate new territories into local and foreign markets. It is worth noting that, according to Juan Martín Caicedo, president of the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure, the idea of this road corridor arose in 2012 and was agreed in the Intermodal Transportation Master Plan 2015 – 2035. Added to this is that it was also agreed in the National Development Plan of this Government.
