Project Description

Economists and international institutions (World Bank, IMF, OECD) recognize infrastructure as the cornerstone to achieve social equality and economic prosperity; which in turn are central for a stable and long-lasting peace in Colombia. Past experiences have shown that a significant amount of resources directed towards infrastructure development are poorly invested or lost due to lack of information and poor strategic planning; This, in addition to the misuse of resources due to, for example, corruption and deficient state control mechanisms. Research around the world and at Los Andes University has shown that information that contributes to understanding infrastructure in context makes a difference in the efficient assignment of resources at the post-conflict stage. Developing infrastructure in context includes i) understanding both the physical and socioeconomic environment; ii) selecting the appropriate technology; iii) follow up both the construction and operation of projects; and iv) monitor the impact of those projects in time.  Then, this project aims at constructing a comprehensive and high quality database that support investment decisions, monitor the evolution of those investments, and measure their impact. Furthermore, this database will be freely available to he public.

Objectives

The objectives of this project include:

  • Develop a database and a visual analytics tool to process and manage information about infrastructure and socioeconomic indicators in those regions that will receive most of the resources for the implementation of peace agreements.
  • Develop indicators to monitoring the impact of infrastructure investments both in the economic productivity and social development. Special emphasis will be given to areas that were particularly affected by the conflict.
  • Follow through time the evolution of those indicators to obtain credible long-term valuations of infrastructure investments.

The tool will be built on the principles of transparency and emphasizing the public right to access information. Information collected and processed will be available freely.

Infraestructura Visible - Interna

Impact of the project

Within this context, the project will have an important impact in Colombia by providing free access to information about the investments and development of infrastructure related to the implementation 

The main impacts of the project can be summarized as follows: 

  • The tool will provide free and easy access to reliable information about infrastructure in the following dimensions: i) physical location -visual representation using GIS-; ii) physical characteristics – structural and operational; and iii) access to contractual documents. The tool will also display socioeconomic information at the municipal and department level. All information collected and processed can be downloaded free of charge. Data-bases will be displayed in a friendly manner so that users can select and download the information required.
  • The tool will be designed to study the value and impact that infrastructure development has on the country. Then it will allow all users to make correlations between different types of infrastructure and socioeconomic indicators (income, poverty, access to education, access to basic sanitation and public services, population, etc.). This analysis will be carried out for a particular year or based on historical records. The capacity to carry out these analyses will be embedded in the system using big-data analysis techniques.

Follow our Visible Infrastructure
project closely