By Giselle Alzate | 2025-03-26

BOGOTA -- For more than two years, more than 1.3 million residents in southern Bogota have awaited the opening of Usme Hospital, a long-promised project by the Chinese state-owned PowerChina International Group that was supposed to open in 2023.

However, delays and unfulfilled commitments have left one of the city's most poorest neighborhoods without the medical care it was promised.

Bogota authorities have issued an ultimatum to the Chinese company, requiring the project's completion by June 30.

Earlier this year, Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan visited the construction site and acknowledged significant delays, stating that progress had fallen short of expectations. As a result, he set a final deadline for the New Usme Hospital Consortium, led by PowerChina, to finish the project.

"Our duty is to protect Bogota's public resources ... If the project isn't delivered by April and hospital preparations aren't completed by June, we will take legal action to sanction the consortium," Galan warned in a video posted on his social media on January 8.

Citing insufficient progress, the city initiated a noncompliance process.

This is not the first time Galan has set a deadline -- during a visit last May, he assured completion of the hospital by December. That promise, like the project itself, remains unfulfilled.

'Eight extensions'

Bogota awarded PowerChina the Usme Hospital construction project in 2019, with work beginning a year later. Originally set to open in 2023, the project has faced constant delays, leaving the indigent surrounding neighborhood without its long-promised medical facility.

Multiple site inspections have confirmed significant flaws in the project, the Bogota District Oversight Office told Entorno.

"This contract has faced repeated delays for various reasons, leading to eight extensions," the office stated in a mid-March email response. Work on the hospital is "93.4% complete," it noted.

Building it is expected to cost $70 million, the Bogota mayor's office says.

"We hope the consortium meets its deadlines so all involved entities can work together to finally deliver this vital infrastructure," said Jose Argote, undersecretary of planning for the District Health Department, after a site visit on February 11.