Hundreds of millions of dollars in construction contracts have been paid to companies who may have illegally won the contracts, an investigation conducted by the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure (CCI) said Monday.
The specifications of many of the contracts were written such that only one firm’s bid fully complied, guaranteeing them the contract.
According to the president of the CCI, Juan Martin Caicedo Ferrer, this is the reason why construction projects are often of low quality or left unfinished.
“The intervention of the Inspector General in awarding contracts is necessary,” asserted Caicedo, claiming it “would lend some transparency to the processes.”
The investigation went on to reveal that in all the municipalities of the country, 65% of construction contracts receive only one bidder.
“This means we’re no longer talking about corruption in a handful of construction contracts but in many contracts across the country,” explained Caicedo.
The results of the investigation are now in the hands of the Prosecutor General, the Inspector General, the Comptroller General, and the presidential Transparency Secretary.