
The ANI delegation in Expo Milano 2015 visited infrastructure projects in North Italy
During Infrastructure Week at Expo Milano 2015, a delegation from ANI (the national infrastructure agency) headed by the agency’s leader, Luis Fernando Andrade, participated in an agenda that included visits to different regions of Italy to see some of the most important recent infrastructure projects in North Italy, and to participate in one-on-one meetings with representatives of companies in the sector to explore business and investment opportunities.
During the visit to Alto Adige, the delegation went to the Brennero tunnel, a project that will bring Austria and Italy together in a railroad link underground, which is considered one of the most important infrastructure projects in Italy.
“The visit to the Brennero tunnel is of great interest because Colombia is thinking of a similar project to link the Magdalena Valley with the Rio Cauca Valley to facilitate the transportation of goods through Central Cordillera. This project has a lot to teach us in terms of technology, but also in the areas of environmental and social management,” said Luis Fernando Andrade, the director of ANI.
The delegation, a guest of the Colombia Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, is in Italy to promote a 30-million-dollar-plus infrastructure development program pursued by President Juan Manuel Santos. In the last several days, this program was presented to 80 Italian investors and entrepreneurs by Colombian Vice President Germán Vargas Lleras during his visit to Expo.
The agenda also included a visit to the offices of the Leitner Group in Vipiteno, one of the main global businesses promoting cableway projects, and the same company that created the elevated railway MetroCable line in Medellin. “We wanted to understand the production system and different applications of their products. We saw, for example, that it is possible to increase the size of the cabins so they can carry more people. This seems like a great opportunity for us to have this kind of system in other cities in Colombia, especially those where hilly areas are being urbanized. It would be a very efficient means of transport,” stated Andrade.
During the week, the delegation also visited Genoa, where they were greeted by the mayor of that city and had a chance to meet the members of the Port Authority. In Milan, in the Colombia Pavilion, the delegation held one-on-one meetings with representatives of Italferr and the Wegh Group, businesses in the railroad field, where they discussed Colombian investment opportunities to develop this sector.
The government’s infrastructure program is a strategic measure for competition and development in Colombia, and it is one of the biggest in Latin America, as Vice President Vargas Lleras emphasized during his visit to Expo’s Colombia Pavilion. After six months it has welcomed 1.8 million visitors. This project was managed by ProColombia, following the guidelines of an Inter-Industry Committee made up of the President of the Republic and the Ministers of Commerce for Industry, Tourism and Finance.
Press release