On Tuesday, at North End's Casa de la Cultura, the National Planning Department (DNP) did what it does every four years: listen to the regions to draft the National Development Plan. According to the DNP's statement, the Archipelago presented a preliminary portfolio of 33 projects worth about 2.19 trillion pesos, with potential for some 8,600 direct jobs.

Transport takes 1.55 trillion of that: modernising Gustavo Rojas Pinilla airport (1.188 trillion, indicative), an electric public transport system (176 billion) and ring roads (128 billion). Anyone who has waited for a bus under the sun on the Circunvalar wants that.

But the DNP itself added the fine print: the figures are “indicative estimates subject to feasibility, prioritisation and funding.” In plain words, none of it is money in the bank. It is a wish list — and on these islands we know how many wish lists end.

The week we talked about trillions

On the same day, El Extra reported that the Procuraduría filed disciplinary charges against Cristian Fernando Cañón Bernal, the Governor's Office infrastructure secretary from 2024 to 2026, for allegedly serving while barred by a prior dismissal sanction. These are charges, not a ruling, and he has the right to defend himself. The question for the Governor's Office is different: how did someone with a final disqualification come to run the department that manages public works? Who checked?

In October the Comptroller General opened a fiscal liability proceeding over an alleged 3 billion peso loss in a coral restoration contract involving Coralina and Asomucosta, as reported by Portafolio and La FM; no final decision yet. The Procuraduría opened preliminary inquiries into hospital and Governor's Office contracting. And on 31 October, per El Extra, a citizen oversight group filed an audit listing 57 alleged irregularities in a waste-collection contract worth about 3.914 billion pesos — allegations by a private party that still deserve a public answer.

The minister said it herself

At the DNP meeting, Health Minister Ana María Vesga spoke of “an abandoned hospital, where getting sick becomes a worry for the community.” If the hospital we already have is like that, on what guarantee do we ask the nation to trust us with over a trillion for an airport?

This is not a column against the airport or electric buses. The island needs them. Big money is not lost for lack of projects; it is lost for lack of oversight.

What should come with every peso

  • Publish all 33 projects with value, executing agency and feasibility status.
  • Explain what checks now stop disqualified officials from signing public-works contracts.
  • Answer the oversight audit point by point and hand control bodies everything they request.
  • Guarantee prior consultation with the Raizal people on projects affecting land, sea or landscape, starting with the airport.

Islanders are not afraid of big numbers. We are afraid of them disappearing again. Before asking Bogotá for more, someone in the Governor's Office should answer for what already arrived.

Armando Archbold, periodista del Externado con maestría en política, editor de WiNyuuz

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