A lack of bidders for Carreteras de Prosperidad, Colombia’s P3 road initiative, has prompted the Colombian government to hastily improve its financing of the program. Colombia replaced its original plan, which provided all its contribution to the project as milestone payments during construction, with a new scheme that gives the concessionaire half its construction payment up front and the other half linked to construction progress.

After two years of drafting the road program, and several delays prior to calling for bids, national infrastructure agency ANI drew few bidders for the first Prosperidad roads, although ten teams were shortlisted for each of them. A shallow local loan market couldn’t meet the bidders credit requirements, depriving them of start-up financing.