Ruta del Sol (Section 3)

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In August 2010, the Colombian concession agency INCO signed a variable term contract with Yuma Concesionaria S.A. PSF , a consortium consisting of Italy’s Impreglio, Colombia’s Bancolombia and the Colombian pension fund Protección to expand and rehabilitate the exisiting 465km third section of the Ruta del Sol Highway. Impreglio SpA was the main sponsor. Although there were five pre-qualified bidders, Yuma was the only bidder to present a final offer. The third section was split between two sections, from San Roque to Ye de Cienaga and from Carmen de Bolivar to Valledupar. Ruta del Sol was originally designed as single project, but was broken into three sections under advisement from the IFC. The project was awarded to Yuma Concesionaria S.A. PSF in a competitive tender by Inco in which the lowest Net Present Value of revenue was the main bidding variable. The NPV of revenues requested totaled $1.039 billion, 9 percent less than the maximum-allowed bid value. Revenue was to come from a combination of availability payments and toll revenue with the concession terminating when the agreed upon NPV was reached. The total project cost was estimated at US $900 million. Construction was expected to be completed in 2017. After the project was deactivated for a period of time in June 2021 a refinancing to the amount of 400,000 million pesos (almost USD 112 million) was provided for the reactivation of the project. The financing loan was given with the Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo SPA and Banca Popolare di Sondrio FPA.