Colombian President Alvaro Uribe halts Coalcorp's plan for deep water port at Cartagena

摘要

Coalcorp must be wondering just how strong Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's commitment to the nation's coal industry really is. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Colombian Association of Hotels in Santa Marta in late September, Uribe announced that Coalcorp will not be given permission to construct a 70 million US dollars deep water port on the Dique Channel near Baru Island in Cartagena due to concerns that pollution may interfere with Colombia's budding tourism industry. The announcement caught Coalcorp by surprise. It's obvious that Uribe didn't bother to consult with officials at the company, (currently the fourth largest coal producer in Colombia), before going public with his decision.