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FCC has been awarded the contract for
the project consisting of the design, cons-
truction, operation and maintenance of the
Toyo tunnel in the Urabá Port (around 80
kilometres from Medellín) with a budget of
392 million euros (1.1 trillion Colombian pe-
sos). The Government of Antioquia awar-
ded the project to a consortium led by the
Citizen Services Group (with a 40% share)
and a group of local businesspeople (with
the remaining 60%).
The project is to be fully executed over 10
years, six of which will be dedicated to the
construction phase and two and a half to
operation and maintenance. The rest of
the time will be spent on the design phase
and any necessary pre-construction work.
FCC to execute
the Toyo
tunnel project
in Colombia
for 392 million
euros
Other large international infrastructure
groups also took part in the tender process.
It is estimated that the Toyo tunnel works
will directly create one thousand jobs.
Between Giraldo and Cañasgordas
The project, located between the municipa-
lities of Giraldo and Cañasgordas, around
500 kilometres north-west of Bogotá, con-
sists of building a completely new road sec-
tion, 40.84 kilometres long in two directions
with one lane in each, although there will
also be a dual carriageway section with
two lanes in each direction. This section will
pass through the mountains of western An-
tioquia, in an area that is difficult to access.
The works will substantially improve the
connection between Medellín and the re-
gion of Urabá, given that the journey bet-
ween the capital of Antioquia and Urabá will
be cut from the six hours it currently takes
to three and a half when using private vehi-
cles, once the whole Toyo tunnel project is
up and running. For lorries, the journey will
take around four hours. The highways Mar
1 and Mar 2, forming part of the Autopistas
de la Prosperidad programme, amongst
other infrastructure in the region, will also
contribute to this shorter journey time.
The complete project also includes 12.3 ki-
lometres of tunnels, 9.8 of which will make
up the Toyo tunnel, added to the new road
leading to Urabá. Once complete, this in-
frastructure will be the longest of its kind in
Colombia.
The contract
contemplates the design,
construction, operation
and maintenance
of the works
over a period
of 10 years.
Spanning
over 10 kilometres,
the tunnel will be
the longest one
in Colombia.
The project is expected
to create more than
1,000 direct jobs.
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