The Spanish multinational Sacyr signed with the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) the act of commencement of the contract to recover the degraded ecosystems of the Canal del Dique, a project that covers a area of influence of 435,000 hectares and which will require an investment of 1,221 million euros.
This initiative, which will be developed under the public-private collaboration scheme, will restore the ecosystems in this region of the Colombian Caribbean through a set of interventions that include the construction of new locks and gates, the company, specialized in construction works, reported this Friday. infrastructures.
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It is expected that the project benefits 1.5 million inhabitants of 19 municipalities in the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar and Sucre.
The Spanish group, through the concessionaire Ecosistemas del Dique, will invest 1,221 million euros, of which 678 million correspond to design and construction.
With a concession period of 15 years, the work is divided into three stages: pre-construction (18 months), construction (4 years and 3 months) and operation and maintenance (9 years).
He Canal del Dique is 115 kilometers long, between the municipality of Calamar and the Bay of Cartagena.
The execution of the works involves the construction of two complexes of locks and gates: one in Calamar and another in Puerto Badel, which will allow the control of water flow and saline intrusion, and will also mitigate shore erosion and reduce the entry of sedimentation in the bays of Cartagena and Barbacoas, among other results, according to the source.
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All these interventions, 36 in total, will help to restore degraded ecosystems, and also entails a social investment of approximately 70 million euros.
Sacyr stressed that the recovery of the degraded ecosystems of the Canal del Dique is a unique project in Colombia and Latin America in terms of sustainability.