Starting with an analysis of the urban hierarchy of Colombia, the present study investigates the evolution and the deficiencies of the Colombian transport system. While a lot of these deficiencies derive from the physical geography of the country and the historic development of the transport network, the impact on the economic development of Colombia has been multiplied by the market liberalization in the 1990’s, which triggered an impressive rise in transport volumes that could not be handled by the old system. The measures taken by Colombian administrations since 1990 to reduce the deficiencies in the transport system via a transformation of the institutional frame of the sector have had notable success, although not in all transport modes. Nevertheless, these measures did not take sufficiently into consideration the necessities of a balanced decentralized development, which is indispensable for reducing regional disparities. With the aim to stimulate the discussion about decentralization in Colombia, the author outlines with this article a proposal on how the Colombian transport network should be structured to enable the Colombian regions to take greater benefit from the impulses generated by the market liberalization.

MUELLER Jan; 

2005-12-19

Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia

JRC31821

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC31821,