Update of Colombia’s River Master Plan

The Colombian waterway network has a length of 24,725 km, of which about 18,000 km are navigable and provide connectivity to different populations in the country. Colombia is one of the Latin American countries with the highest density of river network in relation to the extension of its territory, with an indicator of around 1.6 km per 100 km2 (Jaimurzinam Azhar, 2017).

In 2015, Colombia's River Master Plan was published, the main elements were: river infrastructure, institutional planning, operation, promotion, and financing of the mode.

However, many of the shortcomings still persist, few projects have been implemented, and it is necessary to have an updated public policy document that encourages the development of public and private projects and investments and stimulates the sustainable development of the river mode given its relevance for the country's competitiveness, and for the connectivity and development of the most remote regions of the national territory.

Steer in a partnership with Fedesarrollo carried out the update of Colombia's River Master Plan. This work included the analysis of the validity of the projects and proposals of the plan to take them as a reference for the development of the consultancy. 

The update of the plan was based on the consultation of stakeholders and the comprehensive analysis of social, economic and transport variables, through the implementation of various tools for data management and cross-checking of variables.

The River Master Plan is a planning instrument that is framed within the comprehensive vision of transport and infrastructure, embodied in the Intermodal Master Plan of Colombia, and is aligned with the public policies in force in the country.

In addition to the technical support documents, on which the update of the Plan is based, a document for the dissemination that summarizes the proposed update was generated, which includes: 

• A roadmap for the implementation of infrastructure and support projects that will contribute to the positioning of the waterway mode in the country.
• Institutional and regulatory requirements definition.
• Cross-cutting actions aimed at raising the visibility of the river mode by highlighting its characteristics, including its role in the environment, tourism and research potential, safety requirements, among others.
• Estimation of reference costs for the development of infrastructure and support projects.