Appraisal of the 4G road contracting process in Colombia

In order to have a more competitive country, in 2013 the government started with the execution of the fourth generation (4G) road infrastructure program, which has more than 40 new road concessions, 8000 km of roads, with more than 1200 km in dual carriageway and an investment of $ 47 billion pesos (Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura, 2014). The main benefit expected from this project is the reduction of travel times between cities.Despite the fact that the economic benefit of road concessions has not been the best and the income received has not compensated the investments. To continue with the development of road infrastructure in Colombia, road concessions have become the way forward, generating a GDP impact of 1.5% during the construction years and 4.6 to 5.3% in the long term, as well as a reduction in the unemployment rate of 1%.