{"id":50011193,"date":"2018-05-25T17:52:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T16:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=11193"},"modified":"2025-06-25T11:29:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T10:29:30","slug":"11193-extractive-economies-and-their-impact-in-colombias-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11193-extractive-economies-and-their-impact-in-colombias-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Extractive economies and their impact in Colombia\u2019s Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the frontrunner in Colombian elections taking place on Sunday, Ivan Duque, failed to participate in the third presidential debate in the Pacific port city of Buenaventura<\/a> last month, critics<\/a> interpreted it as a sign of elites\u2019 historic neglect of a desperately impoverished part of the country.<\/p>\n

Chinese investors, however, have been looking to bring significant investment to the Choc\u00f3 region. Yet, in doing so, they will exacerbate an unequal form of economic development based on the extraction of natural resources that brings little benefit to the local population.<\/p>\n

Capital Airports Holdings Company<\/a> (CAH), a company wholly owned by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), plans to invest almost US$2 million in the modernisation and expansion of the airport in the regional capital Quibd\u00f3. Largely isolated due to its challenging geographical conditions and unsafe road connections, the new possibility of international flights could connect regional capital Quibd\u00f3 to global markets.<\/p>\n

The deal will include a 15-25 year concession to operate the airport and will increase its cargo capacity, enabling China to secure its monopoly on exports from the region\u2019s agriculture, forestry and mining sectors, the share of which has already grown from just 2% a decade ago to 93% last year, according to data from Colombia\u2019s Central Bank.<\/p>\n

Quibd\u00f3 is so underdeveloped that it does not even have water pipelines or a sewer system. It has one of the highest rates of poverty in the country, with poor access to health services, low levels of education and recreation infrastructure and high levels of corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, it is difficult to argue that the investment in modernising and extending the local airport is a priority for the local community. So who stands to benefit?<\/p>\n

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Pelenque neighbourhood in Quibd\u00f3. Right:an improvised football pitch next to the Atrato River (photos by author)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Quibd\u00f3: an international or a socially exclusive city?<\/h2>\n

Quibdo\u2019s local inhabitants (including local academics), speak proudly of the forthcoming internationalisation of the city and the progress that this project will bring to the wider region. However, an important consequence of this FDI is that improved transport infrastructure<\/a> will pull in more foreign investment and will facilitate extractive activities in El Choc\u00f3.<\/p>\n

This new investment is already tangible in Quibd\u00f3. In 2017, a private real estate company began constructing a new shopping complex with cinemas and a casino and playgrounds. A private international consortium is promoting a business and residential complex with high-rise luxury towers which would consist of a hotel, offices and apartments meeting \u2018high international standards\u2019.<\/p>\n

So far, however, what activity there has been in the mining and real estate sectors have brought few benefits and it is difficult to argue that new projects like this will guarantee a more prosperous future for inhabitants for whom properties and luxury facilities will be out of reach.<\/p>\n

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Left: a billboard promoting El Cab\u00ed shopping mall. Right: a flyer promoting Borde Balay residential and business complex (photos by author)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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Chinese in Choc\u00f3: refuelling conflict?<\/h2>\n

In the last decade, extractive industries such as gold mining have developed and expanded in El Choc\u00f3 with enormous environmental and social consequences. By 2001, gold mining activities had destroyed 302 hectares of rainforest, but by 2014 this had increased to 36,185 hectares, according to national newspaper El Tiempo<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This situation becomes even more complex when in many cases the production of commodities is managed by illegal armed groups, which also control coca production and narcotrafficking in the region. Therefore, extractive economies in El Choc\u00f3 are not only environmentally destructive but also non-inclusive and benefit only a narrow group of local elites.<\/p>\n

According to the latest report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD) the profits from illegal mining in Choc\u00f3 are laundered locally in sectors such as real estate<\/a>. Between 2010 and 2014 Quibd\u00f3\u2019s construction sector recorded the highest rate of economic growth (13%) of any sector, followed by real estate and financial services (8,2%), according to the Colombian Central Bank\u2019s annual Regional Economic Report (ICER 2015<\/a>) for Choc\u00f3.<\/p>\n

This activity therefore has a direct impact on the built urban environment in cities such as Quibd\u00f3 and gives an illusory impression of economic development. That is, new construction developments that are not responding to a growing demand for housing or leisure. Quibd\u00f3 does not have enough of a state presence or a resilient enough local economy to withstand a boom in this kind of internationalised trade and investment driven by China\u2019s demand for raw materials<\/a>, or to ensure benefits are redistributed locally.<\/p>\n

Data from Colombia\u2019s Central Bank shows that since 2012 exports have become highly concentrated in the Chinese market. China\u2019s huge growth in metal imports for construction materials began in the 1990s and widened between 2003-2011. But it started to decline in 2012.<\/p>\n