User:Calliopejen1/Economy of Colombia

Colombia's geography, with three cordilleras of the Andes running up the country from south to north, and jungle in the Amazon and Darién regions, represents a major obstacle to the development of national road networks with international connections.

In the spirit of the 1991 constitution, in 1993 the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation was reorganized and renamed the Ministry of Transportation. In 2000 the new ministry strengthened its role as the planner and regulator within the sector.

Air transportation
Colombia was a pioneer in promoting airlines in an effort to overcome its geographic barriers to transportation. The Colombian Company of Air Navigation (Compañía Colombiana de Navegación Aérea), formed in 1919, was the second commercial airline in the world. It was not until the 1940s that Colombia's air transportation began growing significantly in the number of companies, passengers carried, and kilometers covered. In 1993 the construction, administration, operation, and maintenance of the main airports was transferred to departmental authorities and the private sector, including companies specializing in air transportation. As a part of this process, in 2006 the International Airport Operator (Operadora Aeroportuaria Internacional, or Opain), a Swiss-Colombian consortium, won the concession to manage and develop Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport.

In 2006 Colombia was generally reported to have a total of 984 airports, of which 103 had paved runways and 883 were unpaved. The Ministry of Transportation listed 581 airports in 2007, but it may have used a different methodology for counting them. Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport handles 350 million metric tons of cargo and 8 million passengers a year, making it the largest airport in Latin America in terms of cargo and the third largest in passenger numbers. In addition to El Dorado, Colombia's international airports are Palonegro in Bucaramanga, Simón Bolívar in Santa Marta, Ernesto Cortissoz in Barranquilla, Rafael Núñez in Cartagena, José María Córdova in Rionegro near Medellín, Alfonso Bonilla Aragón in Cali, Alfredo Vásquez Cobo in Leticia, Matecaña in Pereira, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in San Andrés, and Camilo Daza in Cúcuta. Perhaps the most significant infrastructure development since 1990 has been the construction of the new José María Córdova International Airport, which provides services for large commercial aircraft flying to and from Medellín. Another important new asset is the second runway at El Dorado International Airport.

As of the early 2000s, an average of 72 percent of the passengers transported by air went to national destinations, while 28 percent travel internationally. After the reforms of the beginning of the 1990s, the number of international passengers tripled by 2003.

Avianca has been the airline with the largest market share in Colombia of both national and international flights; it held 36 percent of the domestic market and 44 percent of the international passenger market in 2003. In that same year, Aero República, founded in 1993 with a lighter labor structure than Avianca and competing low prices, already held one quarter of the local market. In 2003 American Airlines held 11 percent of the international passenger market, followed by Copa Airlines, with 9 percent; and Continental Airlines and Iberia, with 4.5 percent each. In 2003 international air cargo had a much larger share of the total (77 percent) than national cargo (23 percent), a trend that has been reinforced with the greater opening of the economy.

Because of difficult times in the air industry at the beginning of the twenty-first century and complex internal problems within the firms, Colombia's main airlines—Avianca, SAM, and ACES—have made a cooperative effort to survive. However, the final outcome of the strategy involved the disappearance of ACES and the takeover of Avianca by a Brazilian entrepreneur in 2004. Moreover, in 2005 Copa Airlines acquired a majority shareholding of Aero República. Since then both companies have modernized their fleets and expanded and improved their services. At the end of 2007, and after major restructuring within the established airlines, EasyFly, Colombia's first low-cost airline, began service, focusing initially on the domestic market. The company began with domestic shareholders owning two-thirds of the firm, and foreign investors owning the remaining shares.

All public airports in Colombia are managed and controlled by the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics. The customs/immigration issues are controlled by the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS).

Inland waterways
Before the twentieth century, Colombia's rivers offered the main means of transportation, mostly linking regions with the Atlantic coast, and the means by which vast parts of the country had contact with the outside world. Though inland waterways today transport approximately 3.8 million metric tons of freight and more than 5.5 million passengers annually, this transportation method is underutilized: in 2002, for example, only 3 percent of total cargo and only 5 percent of passengers were transported by inland waterways. The government is planning an ambitious program to more fully utilize the main rivers for transport. In addition, the navy's riverine brigade has been patrolling waterways more aggressively in order to establish safer river transport in the more remote areas in the south and east of the country that are controlled by rebel groups.

Colombia's main inland waterways are the Magdalena–Cauca River system, which is navigable for 1,500 kilometers; the Atrato, which is navigable for 687 kilometers; the Orinoco system of more than five navigable rivers, which total more than 4,000 kilometers of potential navigation (mainly through Venezuela); and the Amazon system, which has four main rivers totaling 3,000 navigable kilometers (mainly through Brazil). Overall, the country has 24,725 kilometers of inland waterways, 74 percent of which are navigable. Of the navigable waterways, 39 percent allow for permanent major navigation, while 23 percent allow for temporary major navigation.

Colombia's main river, the Magdalena, still provides services for transportation, although stiffer competition from rail transportation and especially from roads has meant that the Magdalena has specialized in transporting high-volume and low-cost-per-unit-weight goods. In 2002 hydrocarbons transported on the Magdalena represented 80 percent of the total cargo transported via inland waterways. The main transshipment ports on the Magdalena are La Dorada, Puerto Salgar, Puerto Berrío, Barrancabermeja, Estación Acapulco, and Gamarra. The main specialized ports along that river are Imarco (for cement) and Barrancabermeja (for hydrocarbons). A second interoceanic canal system, to be built by dredging the Atrato and other rivers and digging short access canals, has been proposed periodically over the years but had not materialized by 2009.

Ports
Seaports traditionally have been Colombia's gateway for international trade. In the 1950s, the ma in ports—all publicly owned and operated—were Buenaventura, Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Santa Marta. Major changes occurred after the port reforms of 1991, when the public organization in charge of ports was abolished, and private agents were given authorization to build, operate, and maintain ports.

Because ports have been and are the main entry and departure point for international trade, their development has been linked closely to trends in exports and imports. The production of bananas in the Urabá region in the mid1960s and the expanded exports of coal and oil in the mid-1980s led to the privately funded construction of some specialized ports. For example, on the Caribbean coast, the need for a coal-export port resulted in the construction of Puerto Bolívar, and Mamonal serves as the principal outlet for hydrocarbons and fertilizers shipped up the Magdalena.

Between 1999 and 2003, about 96 percent of Colombia's export volume went through ports; 3 percent by road; and 1 percent by air. Some 57 percent of the tonnage ex ported was of coal. And of the total number of tons of imports, 89 percent was moved through ports, 10 percent on roads, and 1 percent by air.

Railroads
Colombia's transport system developed at the end of the nineteenth century with the construction of a rail network, aimed initially at connecting regions with the Magdalena and Cauca rivers. The rail system contributed to the development of the coffee industry, and the growth of the coffee industry encouraged the development of the rail network.

However, Colombia never managed to complete its rail network, and technical incompatibilities prevented the nation from making better use of the existing railroads. The development of Colombia's road system also hampered further improvements in rail services. In recent decades, rail services have tended to specialize. For example, a specially designed railroad transports coal from the mine at Cerrejón. Certain lines also remain active, such as the one between Bogotá and Sogamoso, where major steel and cement industries are located.

In 2006 Colombia had 3,304 kilome ters of rail, of which almost 2,000 kilometers had service managed by private companies; the remainder were inactive. With the exception of 150 kilometers of standard gauge, most of the rail lines are narrow gauge.

Road Transportation
Colombia's road system originated in the first half of the twentieth century. Transport by rail or river used to be oriented toward exports, imports, and communication with the outside world. The road network, in contrast, was designed to improve communications across the country and locally. Road transport has had the largest volume increase of the main forms of transportation, while train and river transport lag far behind. This disparity can be explained partly by the country's topography, the in creasing size of Colombia's internal market, and by the road network being designed for domestic convenience. Other reasons for the faster development of road transport are the flexibility of road systems and some mistakes in railroad and river-transport policy.

As of October 2008, Colombia had 164,25 7 kilometers of roads, of which 13,467 kilometers, or about 8 percent, were paved, according to the National Institute of Highways. Of the paved roads, 55.5 percent were in good condition, 30.3 percent in bad condition, and 14 percent in very bad condition (the remaining minute percentage was considered in very good condition). Some 8,7 87 kilometers of Colombia's paved roads were designated as part of the national highway network, of which 46.9 percent were considered in good condition, 33.2 percent in regular condition, 19.5 percent in bad condition, and the remaining 0.4 percent in very bad condition. The remaining 150,790 kilometers of unpaved roads were secondary and tertiary roads, of which 42.3 percent were considered to be in regular condition, 36.6 percent in bad condition, 20 percent in good condition, and the remaining 1 percent or so in very good condition.

The country has six major highway networks, three of which (troncales) run from south to north on either side of the Cordillera Central and alongside the Cordillera Oriental. The Western Highway (forming part of the Pan-American Highway) begins at the border with Ecuador and passes near Cali on its way north through Medellín to the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena. The Magdalena Highway separates from the Western Highway near Popoyán, passing by Neiva all the way to Ciénaga, near Santa Marta, and the Central Highway runs north from Bogotá to Cúcuta and the border with Venezuela and on northwest to Valledupar and Cartagena. The fourth, fifth, and sixth major highway networks (transversales) run east–west. The Caribbean Highway, which begins at Paraguachón, on the Venezuelan border in La Guajira Department, runs through the northern Caribbean lowlands, circumvents the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and passes by Santa Marta, Barranquilla, and Cartagena all the way to Turbo in Antioquia Department.

Another highway runs from Bogotá to Medellín, and a third horizontal link goes from Puerto Gaitán in the eastern llanos (Meta Department), passes through Villavicencio, Bogotá, and Cali, and ends in Buenaventura on the Pacific coast.

The Darién rainforest, also known as the Atrato swamp, prevents the Pan-American Highway from linking Colombia and Panama. Located in Chocó Department adjoining the border with Panama, it is a deep swamp about 100 kilometers in width that has challenged engineers for years. The highway is interrupted for 100 kilometers, terminating on the Colombian side a few kilometers beyond the Río Atrato at Lomas Aisladas, near Guapá, and on the Panamanian side at Yaviza. Planning efforts to remedy this missing link in the Pan-American Highway began in 1971, with the help of U.S. funding, but halted in 1974. Another effort to build this part of the road began in 1992 but was also abandoned. Among its benefits, the project would allow transportation by road throughout the Americas, reducing costs and promoting the trade of goods and services. Among its problems are environmental and health issues, including the theory that the Darién rainforest has prevented the spread of cattle diseases into Central and North America, and cultural concerns primarily for the Chocó and Cuna indigenous peoples. As a result, bridging the gap in the Pan-American Highway is a project that remains in the planning stage.

The issue resurfaced in 2005, when President Uribe strongly advocated the construction of the highway through the Darién. However, a coalition of indigenous groups, environmental activists, and business and political leaders in Panama apparently succeeded in pressuring the Panamanian government not to endorse the Colombian proposal. In any case, as of January 2006 Panama and Colombia were planning to build an electricity transmission line to link their power grids through the Darién rainforest, a project that would require cutting a path at least 40 meters wide through virgin jungle. However, that project also has stalled.

Growing fiscal constraints have led to fostering private enterprise, and private companies have been granted leases to maintain highways since the mid-1990s. In 2009 major projects with private-sector participation planned for the near future included the tunnel to cross the central branch of the Andes in La Línea and the highways between Bogotá and Cajamarca, which would improve mobility between Bogotá and the southern, central, and western regions of the country. When the 8.5-kilometer-long La Línea Tunnel opens around 2013, it is expected to save heavy vehicles 80 minutes and private automobiles 40 minutes off the previous route by connecting the departments of Tolima and Quindío. These new highway projects include one that will link Bogotá with Buenaventura, the main Colombian port on the Pacific Ocean. Other projects with private participation include the Bogotá–Santa Marta Highway, linking the capital city with the Atlantic coast, and the Bogotá–Sogamoso Highway, connecting Bogotá with the department of Boyacá.

Bogotá still had major and long-lasting traffic congestion in 2007, because the number of private and public vehicles exceeded the capacity of the street infrastructure. In order to overcome the problems generated by a whole range of market failures, including perverse incentives for bus owners and drivers, poorly defined property rights of streets and sidewalks, and environmental pollution and congestion, Bogotá has a massive new transport system called TransMilenio. It is an integrated bus rapid-transit system, using dedicated lanes for articulated buses, stations and terminals adapted for large-capacity buses, and fare-integrated operations with smaller buses on the outskirts of the city. The city grants contracts to private companies that provide and operate the buses in this system, and fees are based on distance traveled. In 2009 the TransMilenio network was far from complete, so it was too early to fully assess its impact. Still, in 2001, only two years after TransMilenio began operations, the duration of the average trip in Bogotá decreased from 44 minutes to 35 minutes, while the average speed of cars increased from 27 kilometers per hour to 32 kilometers per hour.

The TransMilenio system has become a reference point for similar future projects, both in Colombia and abroad, mainly because of its cost-effectiveness compared to alternatives such as underground metro systems. Currently, these massive transport systems are also in development for Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Medellín, Pereira, and Soacha. The systems include financial support from the national government as long as the local authorities demonstrate the financial capacity to support the project during construction and operation. In 2008 Samuel Moreno Rojas took office as major of Bogotá with a popular mandate to build a metro line. In 2009 this proposed project and its links to the other elements of the capital city's public transport system, including TransMilenio and a future regional train plan, were still under review.