Global Gateway – Strategic Solutions for Green Urban Development in Colombian Cities

Colombia is a highly urbanised country, with more than 80% of the population living in cities. Rapid urbanisation has often lacked proper planning, affecting the quality and quantity of public transport, housing, waste and water treatment, which exacerbates inequalities and contributes to large greenhouse gas emissions. In order to promote multi-faceted urban transformation, financing to facilitate project preparation is much needed, along with improved tendering procedures in line with international environmental and social standards.

facility aims at supporting the implementation of sustainable urban development projects in Colombia building on previous experience from KfW, EIB and AFD. Effective cooperation mechanisms between these actors and the European Union will leverage financing, speed up project implementation and ensure that projects are tendered according to international best practices, while creating market opportunities for European private companies. A Team Europe approach will be prioritised, encouraging participation from other JEFIC members, such as AECID or CDP, already present in the country. The initiative brings financial and non-financial additionality, as it aims to address challenges in governance, environmental, social and gender aspects from the design phase of projects, making cities more equitable. Supported projects will align with national or sub-national climate change strategies and respond to Colombian National Determined Contributions (NDC) commitments. Furthermore, they will be aligned with Global Gateway sectors and be closely coordinated with EU guarantee programmes, in particular the FAST-Cities guarantee, also implemented by AFD.

This operation will provide technical assistance in two different forms:

• Technical assistance at the preparation phase: to structure early-stage operations in line with international best practices, allowing future project financing by one or more European Development Financial Institutions.
• Technical assistance during implementation: offered alongside debt financing either at final negotiation stage or at the implementation phase. This assistance shall increase non-financial additionality of loans extended by European Development Financial Institutions.

Projects aligned with the Global Gateway Investment Agenda and of interest to European companies that may participate in tendering processes for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, consulting services, construction or operation contracts will be prioritised.