The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $21.7 million loan to Department of Cundinamarca, Colombia, to upgrade the system of secondary roads and road maintenance services and to strengthen the department’s overall management capacity.
Cundinamarca, located in the geographic center of the country, surrounds the nation’s capital and accounts for 8 percent of the national product and 17 percent of exports.
The transportation component of the IDB-financed program will provide resources for the upgrading, paving and rehabilitating of 240 kilometers of existing roads, including seven regional trunk lines and two ring roads, one around district capital and another around the department.
Trunk lines intersecting the two ring road systems will ensure interconnectivity among the regions and guarantee the flow of goods between the department and other parts of the country.
A new and better administration and evaluation system for routine road maintenance will be developed. The Public Works Secretariat will be strengthened to become more effective as the planning and oversight body for the secondary road system
Institutional strengthening
The IDB resources will help create the Departmental Information System and enhance departmental planning, supervision, and evaluation of management performance. In addition, the program will strengthen financial administration, oversight and increased tax collection.
Technical assistance will be provided to municipalities for fiscal and financial management and land use planning, and four management support systems will be strengthened: managing documents, updating and valuation of inventories of real property, planning and evaluation, and internal auditing.
The program reflects the IDB’s strategy of supporting efforts by Colombian authorities to decentralize, modernize the state and promote economic growth. The project will incorporate lessons learned in previous IDB-financed projects to Colombia in the areas of surface transportation and modernization of the state.
The total cost of the program is $31 million. The IDB loan is for a 20-year-term, with a four and one-half year grace period, at the variable interest rate, now 5.39 percent. Local counterpart funds total 9.3 million.