International financing is being sought for the $200m construc-tion of a 8.6km, 8m wide, single-bore tunnel from central Colombia to the port of Buenaventura on the Pacific coast. Plans for the tunnel were revived by President Andres Pastrana to promote trade along the 1300km long coastline; further development is hampered by poor road communications with central Colombia.
The country’s transport ministry presided at a forum to promote the project at the end of October in Bogotá, which attracted interest from UK, Spanish, Italian, Swiss and Japanese firms.
National planning director Mauricio Cardenas said the project would take five years to build once international financing was secured. About 3550 vehicles currently use the road every day. The link would cut the journey time by a third.
