BAAR, SWITZERLAND: Sika AG has invested in the production of concrete admixtures, acrylic liquid applied membranes and mortars in Barranquilla, the fourth-largest city in Colombia, and has relocated and expanded the activities of an existing factory to the new state-of-the-art plant. The factory supplies the attractive Caribbean market and the northern part of Colombia and enables further growth.
Barranquilla is situated between the two rapidly growing tourist destinations of Cartagena and Santa Marta on the Atlantic coast. The new modern plant, located in Barranquilla, which has over two million inhabitants and excellent transport links, enables Sika to better serve customers in the north of the country and in the Caribbean region. With the move, Sika has not only modernized the production lines, but has also significantly increased capacity and established a training center for customers.
With three other manufacturing plants in Tocancipa, in the metropolitan area of Bogota, Rionegro close to Medellin, and Duitama in Central Colombia, Sika is ideally positioned to generate further growth in Colombia’s construction market.
"We are focusing our business activities on the largest markets and metropolitan areas. With our latest investment in Barranquilla we will be able to better capture the potential of the dynamic construction market in the Caribbean region. Our aim is to grow more quickly than the construction market in this region, which currently has an annual growth rate of 15 percent,” said Christoph Ganz, regional manager, Americas, Sika.
Colombia is one of the most attractive infrastructure markets in Latin America. The main growth drivers are investments in urban short-distance transport, freeways and bridges, as well as in energy and utilities infrastructure. According to estimates, the construction industry is expected to grow by almost 4 percent annually over the next five years.
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