ROADS OF PROGRESS

Let’s play the role of a Private Investigator. Lets look around the globe for clues about the forces behind those countries that are prosperous and have reached or are close to reaching economic development. You could probably get 100 economists in a room and they would present different hypothesis and models. Truth is that among the different pieces of the puzzle you would find one common factor contributing to the progress and competiveness of a country -- a good road system.

Recently the Mayor of Bogota, Mr. Samuel Moreno, announced an ambitious plan to build a super highway system around the city that will consist of 14 corridors for a total of 110 miles. The plan is to raise the $2.6 billion dollars from investors and give them control of the road system for the next 25 to 30 years. It is expected to take four years to deliver the completed project.

I think we can all agree that the greatest example of economic development in resent history can be attributed to China. When we think of the China from the 80’s we think of a poor, communist country that produced low quality, cheap products.  One of the first major investments China made was in the construction of a massive highway system. They finished building the first one in 1988 and their plan was to build over 35,000kms nationwide by 2020. Now we all know that China is the second economy in the world and is expected to become number one by 2016.  What are they doing that we could all learn from? Well for instance, the people of China are extremely disciplined, but the key to their success lays in a vision that was executed to a t. You can credit that vision and that plan to two simple questions: How can we turn our industry in the most competitive in the world and how is the government going to facilitate this task.

In the case of Colombia, they are starting to ask these questions. The first step that the country needed towards economic prosperity was to take control of security. The second step was to start an aggressive global campaign to change the perception that the world had about the country. The third step was to build the trust of foreign investors and now the next step is to provide Colombia’s industry with the infrastructure to make them more competitive.

As I look ahead, I see a prosperous future for Colombia. I see a country competing with Brazil for economic leadership in the region and I see Colombia as an important player in world markets.

By

Alejandro Tribin

December 11, 2010