Inter-American Development Bank and Colombia’s FDN Sign $200 Million USD Loan Agreement to Promote 4G Road Development

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Colombia’s Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) signed a $200 million USD agreement this week to jointly promote infrastructure investments in Colombia.

The bulk of the loan will “give a big boost” to the massive 4G road construction project underway in Colombia that calls for the investment of tens of billions of dollars to overhaul and improve the mountainous nation’s highways, tunnels, and bridges.

According to the IDB, this funding will “help accelerate financial closures” as the government continues to promote bids and look for firms to collaborate with through public/private partnerships (PPPs). The loan “emphasizes the focus on PPPs to close the infrastructure financing gap and the importance of leveraging local currency to adapt products to the needs of clients,” said IDB in a statement.

For the arrangement, the IDB, through its IDB Invest private sector financing arm, will provide 270 billion pesos ($88 million USD), and FDN will provide 330 billion pesos ($110 million USD) for “long-term lending in local currency.”

The signing was conducted by Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank; Clemente del Valle, president of FDN; and James P. Scriven, president of IDB Invest.