Hydroelectric project on the Sogamoso River
In December 2009, Impregilo won the competitive bidding to build the hydroelectric project on the Sogamoso River in north-western Colombia, about 40 km from the city of Bucaramanga.
The project involves the construction of a dam measuring 190 m high and 300 m long, and an underground power plant which will house three turbines totaling 820 MW of installed power. The value of the project is currently about €590 million and the client is ISAGEN SA, a mixed public/private funding operator involved in electrical power generation in Colombia.
Furthermore, Impregilo has already completed the preliminary work on the dam, involving the construction of two diversion tunnels measuring about 870 m long and 11 m in diameter, and a system of plant access roads and tunnels.
As for the main project of dam construction, critical issues were already encountered during the second half of fiscal year 2011, with a negative impact on both the production level and profitability. In particular, these events included exceptional adverse weather which struck a significant portion of the Colombian territory, substantially delaying the river diversion work, and, at the same time, the presence of geological conditions differing substantially from the contractually specified conditions, not to mention changes in the scope of work requested by the client. In the early part of 2012, some of the most substantial claims submitted by the contractor were acknowledged, and in 2013 a new contract change was obtained for the construction of new accessory works in the basin affected by the dam. The additional reservations submitted to the client are still under discussion.
The percentage of completion as of December 31, 2014 was 99.2% and on January 16, 2015 the hydroelectric power station was inaugurated.
"Ruta del Sol" Highway Project
At the end of July 2010, the Impregilo Group won the competitive bidding to manage the concession of the third highway lot of the "Ruta del Sol" project in Colombia. The concession, awarded to a grouping of companies led by Impregilo and consisting of the Colombian companies Infracon, Grodco, and Tecnica Vial, and the private investment fund RDS (owned by Bancolombia and the Protección Pension Fund), calls for the adaptation, widening to four lanes, and management of two highway stretches between the cities of San Roque and Ye de Cienaga, and between the cities of Carmen de Bolivar and Valledupar. The overall amount of the investment is about $1.3 billion. The concession contract provides for a total revenue of about $3.7 billion (40% for Impregilo’s share), including income from tolls and a public contribution of $1.7 billion, which will be paid out starting with the construction phase. The concession will run for 25 years, including 6 years for the infrastructure design and adaptation phase and 19 years for the management phase.
The percentage of completion as of December 31, 2014 was 19.4%.