In the Rector’s Council Room of the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), executives of the Fondo Nacional de Turismo – FONTUR, representatives of the Corporación de Ciencias y Tecnología para el Desarrollo de la Industria Naval Marítima y Fluvial – COTECMAR and members of the university met to discuss the FNTC contract No. 646. This agreement establishes that the UIS will lead the auditing of the construction of 88 piers, a project that promises to transform Colombia’s tourism infrastructure.
The main objective of this space, which brought together leading players in the sector, was to address the details and progress of the project, which not only seeks to improve connectivity and accessibility in various regions of the country, but is also projected as an engine to boost the competitiveness of tourism in Colombia.
For El Capital de Fragata, Commander Eliberto Niño Pinilla, Plant Manager of COTECMAR, “it is a very important project from the industrial and social point of view, where 88 embarkators will be installed in different remote places of the country, where their communication routes are purely fluvial, to provide the population with the necessary infrastructure not only for the implementation of tourism, but also to solve the transportation needs in their daily lives”.
For his part, Ángel Rojas, a professional in the management of the FONTUR project, said that “the execution is focused on strengthening river dynamics in the territories, where the aim is to guarantee tourists and the communities living in these areas a safe embarkation and disembarkation”. He also stated that the UIS is important in the auditing of the project because “a proper supervision is guaranteed in the contract between FONTUR and COTECMAR, where the UIS performs a monitoring exercise and becomes a guarantor throughout the process and execution of the project”.
This tourism infrastructure project led by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and executed through Fontur, worth $46,791 million pesos, includes the manufacture, supply, transportation, installation and commissioning of floating river piers in 81 municipalities and 26 departments of the country, including Chocó, Putumayo, Guainía, Guaviare, Vaupés, Vichada, La Guajira and Magdalena.
The development of the 88 piers is expected to have a positive impact on national tourism, facilitating access to natural destinations and encouraging a greater flow of visitors. “The Universidad Industrial de Santander is carrying out the auditing process for this project that is being carried out in 24 departments of Colombia, a country that has great potential in water transport and that has not been exploited,” said Edgar Jesús Rojas, Director of Auditing UIS. In turn, he said that the work of the UIS is to supervise the processes of “manufacturing, permit generation, management processes and installation of the piers are carried out according to plan”.
With this project, the UIS reaffirms its role as a leader in innovation and sustainable development in Colombia, contributing to a more competitive future for the country’s tourism sector. The meeting concluded with a commitment to continue working together to ensure the success of this important initiative, which will undoubtedly mark a milestone in Colombia’s tourism infrastructure.
