The Turbo-Cupica corridor aims to revitalize Colombia's railway infrastructure, offering an alternative to the Panama Canal. With a $19.4 billion investment, the project involves constructing 197.8 kilometers of railway connecting the port cities of Turbo and Cupica. The project's pre-feasibility study is expected to be completed by 2024, with conservative estimates suggesting completion by 2050. Project sponsors predict the Turbo-Cupica corridor would handle 196 million tonnes of containers annually, surpassing slightly the Panama Canal's 2023 container tonnage processed. The project revives a 1994 proposal, with critics questioning its feasibility in the environmentally sensitive region of Chocó.
The Turbo-Cupica corridor project is part of a broader plan to revitalize Colombia's railway infrastructure and enhance connectivity, aiming ultimately to offer a viable alternative to the Panama Canal.
The project is expected to cost $19.4 billion (i.e., 75.3 trillion pesos), and entails installing 197.8 kilometers (i.e., 122.91 miles) of interoceanic railway infrastructure from Turbo, on Colombia's Atlantic coast, to Cupica on its Pacific. The Railway infrastructure would cost 33 trillion pesos (i.e., $7.3 billion) and involve the construction of tunnels and viaducts. Each of the two ports is expected to cost 21 trillion pesos (i.e., $4.67 billion).
Petro's government is working on a pre-feasibility study, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. This study will pave the way for a full feasibility study in 2025.
Conservative estimates are that the new corridor could not become operational until 2050, but much depends on the findings of the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies.
To give context of its scope, the government forecasts the Turbo-Cupica corridor would have a capacity of 196 million tonnes of containers per year. That is slightly more than the entire Panama Canal handled in 2023, processing 192.7 million container tonnage.
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The idea of a corridor cutting through Colombia's portion of the Darien jungle is not new and first proposed in 1994 by President Ernesto Samper, though no plans rose to being executed.
Bottlenecks and delays at the Panama Canal this year has breathed new life into Colombia's ambitions. Critics cite the lack of detailed technical, financial, and environmental planning. Further, they question whether it's realistic to build such infrastructure through the environmentally sensitive and politically complex region of Chocó.
Other corridors similar to this one proposed to run through Colombia have been planned in the region, but only Mexico has managed to make material progress.
Guatemala has explored a "dry canal" with rail infrastructure but lack of reports on the matter indicate the project is stalled. Costa Rica has focused on improving road network routes between the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, with most proposed investments centered around the Limon Moin port.
Nicaragua's canal project had an estimated cost of $40 billion and works carried out by the Chinese. The project never took off due to environmental concerns, financial feasibility issues, and political instability in Nicaragua. In 2024, the government officially canceled the 50-year concession for the canal previously granted to Chinese billionaire Wang Jing more than 10 years ago.
Only Mexico's Panama Canal alternative looks the most promising and likely to come to fruition with substantial progress on improving the transport infrastructure having already occurred or is underway. The ports of Coatzacolcos in Veracruz and Salina Cruz in Oacaxa are being modernized and expanded.
