Colombia’s reconstruction bill has almost doubled. Housing minister Jaime Andres Beltran told the Colombian construction chamber Camacol’s congress in Cartagena that rebuilding the areas hit by the August 10 earthquake will cost 54.3 trillion pesos, of which about 19.7 trillion pesos is housing, up from an initial estimate near 30 trillion pesos.
The damage count behind the revision is large. The minister said the earthquake, which he described as the country’s worst in 100 years, affected 16 departments and 498 municipalities, with more than 203,000 homes damaged and 51,778 destroyed, and 2,341 buildings affected, of which 743 collapsed. Some homes first assessed as suitable for reinforcement will instead have to be demolished, which pushed the cost up.
Beltran was explicit that the money is not in hand. The government has an initial 1.7 trillion pesos for the next phase over the coming nine months, from Fonvivienda and the Fondo Milagro, for buying finished homes and improving housing in the affected territories, and it is targeting 20,000 new homes in 2028 and 2029, concentrated in Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Choco, Risaralda and Quindio.
The gap between a 54.3 trillion peso programme and 1.7 trillion pesos identified for the next phase is the story for the construction sector and for Colombia’s public finances. How Bogota finances the rest, through the budget, credit or private participation, will decide the pace of the largest building programme in the country.