Puerto Antioquia, one of the most ambitious port development projects in Colombia has commenced. It is set to give a boost to the Antióquia departments exports and facilitate the import of spare parts, both strong industries around the region.
Mr Santiago Sierra, Secretary of Infrastructure, referred to the importance of the materialization of this port for the country’s economy in an interview with Caracol Radio:
“This port will be the most important strategic project for the country in commercial terms and for Antioquia it will pose some important challenges for the Urabá sub-region. It is the consolidation of a series of investments between the government of Antioquia and the national government,” Santiago Sierra, Secretary of Infrastructure of Antioquia, told Caracol Radio.
The official also referred to the connections that will be made possible thanks to the complementary works that involve the operation of Puerto Antioquia.
“The department has been building the longest highway tunnel in America, which will be the bypass between these two highways, putting the sea at about 4.5 hours from Medellín. With these conditions of competitiveness, it will be strategic for the nation and for Antioquia because it will represent significant savings with compared to other ports in the country”, added Sierra.
The megaproject will be in the district of Turbo, it will be 16.5 meters deep in the container dock area and it is estimated that seven million tons of cargo would be moved per year. Likewise, it will generate more than 17,000 new jobs and the arrival of some 800 companies, according to specialized media.
The same media assure the start of the works of Puerto Antioquia, a project that provides for the authorization of five docking sites, an offshore platform, a viaduct of more than three kilometers, a land terminal and a refrigerated cargo terminal, which will become in the largest in the country. The investment reaches US$720 million and it is estimated that the construction will end at the end of 2024.
The project, located in the municipality of Turbo in the Caribbean Sea, is financed by investments from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the National Development Finance Agency (FDN) and other entities. On the other hand, according to the project designs, Puerto Antioquia will have a 1,330-meter-long wharf and a capacity to serve up to five ships, with 18 state-of-the-art cranes, which will contribute to shortening the country’s logistics chain, since which is located 350 kilometers closer to the main production and consumption centers compared to other Caribbean ports.
Additionally, the president of Colombia, Iván Duque, assured that this project will also connect with the 4G highways, with which it can be connected at the end of the works. For this reason, the Mar 2, Mar 1, Pacífico 3, Pacífico 2 and Pacífico 1 projects will be adapted as dual carriageway corridors to facilitate cargo transportation and provide access to the port.
The Gulf of Urabá, where the port will be built, is a strategic area that also has the largest non-mining export product in the country: bananas, plantains, palms, cocoa, avocados, and livestock.
