Costa Rican firm amongst winners of Colombia road contracts

BOGOTA, October 22nd, 2015 (EFE) Colombia’s national highway authority, Invias, has awarded a pair of road renovation contracts to two consortiums whose members include the local units of construction companies based in Spain and Costa Rica, the government said.

The Alianza YDN-El Eden consortium, made up of the local unit of Spain’s Pavimentaciones Morales and the Colombian firms Yamil Sabbagh Construcciones S.A.S., D&S S.A., Construcciones Namus S.A. and Viurba Ingenieria SAS, won a project to renovate the highway linking the central city of Armenia and the El Eden airport, which serves that capital of Quindio province.

The 58-billion-peso ($19.5-million) contract covers road improvement and construction of a dual carriageway over a distance of 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles), the vice president’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

A consortium made up of the local unit of Costa Rica’s Constructora Meco S.A., as well as the Colombian firms Meco Infraestructura S.A.S. and Concretos Ltda., also won a contract to renovate a 17.8-kilometer (11-mile) stretch of road linking the towns of La Tebaida and Montenegro, also located in Quindio.

That project will entail an investment outlay of 43.6 billion pesos (some $15 million), the statement added.

“We’re looking to give a boost to the economy and tourism of that region, which is notable for its coffee culture and regarded as one of the country’s main tourist hubs,” Colombian Vice President German Vargas Lleras said.

The projects are part of the government’s broader 4-trillion-peso ($1.35-billion) highway program aimed at improving the nation’s primary and secondary road network.