Toyo Tunnel awarded
5 November 2015Colombia - The Government of Antioquia in Colombia awarded the contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Toyo tunnel in the Urabá Port to a consortium led by FCC’s Citizen Services Group (with a 40 per cent share) and a group of local businesspeople (with the remaining 60 per cent). The contract is worth EUR 392M (USD 429M).
The project, consists of building a completely new road section, 40.84km 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 Antioquia, in an area that is difficult to access. This includes 12.3km of tunnels, 9.8km of which will make up the Toyo tunnel. Once complete, this infrastructure will be the longest of its kind in Colombia.
The project, located approximately 80km from Medellín, 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. 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.
The works will substantially improve the connection between Medellín and the region of Urabá, given that the journey between the capital of Antioquia and Urabá will be cut from the six hours it currently takes to three and a half when using private vehicles, 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.
