A logistics corridor will be established with the accompaniment of the public forces from Buenaventura with a connection to the center and south of the country. There will be a decongestion plan for the port so that the cargo flow to and from the maritime terminal begins again.
President Iván Duque made several aid announcements for Buenaventura during his visit to the port where the country’s main maritime terminal on the Pacific is located, which faces a delicate situation due to the blockade of roads and vandalism to part of its facilities.
After meeting with the military, civil and business authorities of the region, the Colombian president announced concrete measures to reactivate activity in the city and the port. The first announcement has to do with a logistics corridor with the accompaniment of the public force from Buenaventura with a connection to the center and south of the country.
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Likewise, in order to solve the problem of cargo saturation in the port, which has caused large shipping companies not to dock at the terminal, “the urban scheme was carried out that allows reducing capacity, and that allows cargo to be transferred to any of the points of transshipments or free zones so that cargo continues to be received in the port to the extent that the logistics corridor is also strengthened so that we have mobility in the city again ”, said Duque.
On the part of the Ministry of Transportation, two measures have been established: the first is the activation of the policy for 100% of any damage to the cargo vehicles that will be in the corridors moving the cargo that the country requires.
Likewise, a person will be designated to coordinate the logistical processes for the reestablishment of cargo flows in the port of Buenaventura and to allow integration of the responsibility of government agencies, establishing the number of shifts that are necessary “to expedite this mobilization in the national territory ”, explained the president.
The Ministry of Commerce will evaluate the possibility of taking an initiative to the Congress of the Republic proposing to elevate Buenaventura to what is known as special economic export zones that already cover several cities in the country, which is essential for economic reactivation.
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A supply shock plan is projected with the coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture. The plan involves several supply stations in the southwestern and central parts of the country. In this regard, the logistics corridors with all the operational support, will seek to reestablish that important food load that reaches Colombian families from this region, said the president.
The government determined the existence of many businesses, large, medium, small and micro-businesses that have been affected by the pandemic, but also harmed by the blockades “that violate the rights of Colombians,” said Duque. “We will be this week with the Banco Agrario and Bancoldex team launching emergency care lines to those who have been most affected in this city,” he said.
During the visit to the city of Buenaventura, the Colombian president referred to social projects. “Here we will be making that pact for education, which, among other things, includes the measure that we already share of free public technical and technological university education for levels 1, 2 and 3, which represents an opportunity for the youth of our country and for Buenaventura, ”said Duque.
With the private sector of the region, the measure that begins to take effect on June 1 was reiterated and consists of providing a subsidy of 25% of the minimum wage for the hiring of young people between 18 and 28 years old, which is equivalent to social security , so that this crash plan is made in Buenaventura to hire many young people.
“We do not want that term of ninis that there are young people who neither study nor work to become more acute in our country, due to such an important measure, let’s hope it reaches cities where youth unemployment has been a protagonist of the effects of the pandemic,” he said. President Duque.
Among the announcements that try to appease the difficult situation facing the region, President Duque said that the Comprehensive Development Plan for Buenaventura will be signed in the coming weeks. In this sense, Viviana Obando was appointed as manager of the Buenaventura Development Fund. This fund is required to have a leading role today so that with the agencies of the national government, this Comprehensive Development Plan becomes a mechanism to resolve “historical debts that this city has,” said Duque.
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Other decisions taken after President Duque’s meeting with local authorities have to do with deep dredging of the port, an activity that the Ministry of Transport should lead. This dredging will make it possible to keep the port of Buenaventura competitive without having to resort to tolls for the transit of ships, “a solution will be sought that does not increase costs, but rather maintains the competitiveness of the port of Buenaventura,” he said.
The President reiterated that, “here we will be making a constant presence for the economic reactivation and for this Comprehensive Development Plan of Buenaventura to become a reality.”
