Colombia pushes ahead with ambitious infrastructure plan

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Gideon Long in Bogotá

In most countries, 4G and 5G refer to advances in mobile telephony. In Colombia the terms are synonymous with roads, airports, railways, rivers and canals.

Ever since the 1990s, Colombia has unveiled its forthcoming infrastructure projects in great packages, each described as “a new generation”.

The most recent was the fourth generation (4G) programme, launched in 2014. It was the biggest investment initiative in the country’s history: 29 projects to build or renovate 5,000km of roads, 775 bridges and 41 tunnels at a cost of about $13bn.