The approval process for the Santos government's National Development Plan will begin on February 4.

 

The day to know Colombia's National Development Plan for the next four years has finally arrived. On Friday the Colombian government will file its plan at the Congress for approval. This is due in part to the fact that the government team is more used to their tasks and can predict possible and probable goals, and partly to the "surprise" of the harsh rainy season, which affected the budget and the objectives initially proposed last year in the early drafts.
 

Good governance and prosperity continue to emerge as the two main topics. If the objectives were fully met, there would be a significant advance for democracy in Colombia. Now the challenge is also to reconstruct what the rains have devastated.

Much of the current Development Plan will not only be run by traditional government agencies but also by the Fund or Redevelopment Agency directed by a joint board, conformed by ministers, businessmen and the former President of Bancolombia on the director's seat.

This agency will have a private scheme, no-bid contracts nor contests, and a nearly 15 billion pesos budget. That will bring great flexibility but also a great challenge for resource management, transparency and control. 
 
Competitiveness goes hand in hand with prosperity so the basic axes, named by the government as "locomotives" should progress: mining, but not devastating the environment, science and technology with intellectual property protection, electronic commerce to reduce barriers for entry and agribusiness to promote exports.
 

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