Colombia TOD NAMA: Four Years Later (Actually Nine Years Later)

CCAP drafted a first concept of a Transit Oriented Development NAMA in late 2011, with both capacity-building and financing components. CCAP led a group of Colombian stakeholders in the fall of 2012 on a study tour of the rapidly growing TOD neighbourhoods in the Washington, DC metropolitan area where they explored various models of public-private partnership and collaboration. After the tour a working group started in Colombia to help CCAP refine the NAMA concept for submission to the NAMA Facility. Participating Colombian Ministries included Housing, Transport, Environment and the National Planning Department. Success! In December 2013 the TOD NAMA was pre-selected by the NAMA Facility during the first round of proposals and began an extensive appraisal process to develop the structure and organization of the NAMA. In anticipation, CIUDAT issued a preliminary call in 2014 for proposals and six Colombian cities responded. Actual implementation started in late 2016 with €14.7M in funding from the NAMA Facility.

The Technical Component (TC) of the Colombia Transit Oriented Development (TOD) NAMA has come to a close after four (actually nine) years. The Financial Cooperation (FC) started in 2019 and will end in 2023. The TC component has been very successful in accomplishing its goals. Achievements include setting institutions in place to support TOD, completing pre-feasibility studies for catalytic TOD pilot projects in four Colombian cities, creating robust national TOD policy recommendations, and developing a comprehensive monitoring & evaluation (M&E) process.

CCAP will offer a series of blogs that highlight our accomplishments during the Technical Cooperation period, laying the groundwork for the TOD neighborhoods being implemented in the next few years through the Financial Component portion of the NAMA Support Project.

Transit-Oriented Development is an urban development model that joins urban planning and mobility to improve people’s quality of life and facilitate their access to goods, jobs, services and public space. TOD focuses public and private development around public transport stations and along main public transport corridors. It aims to decrease the usage of inefficient passenger transport modes and reduce negative global and local environmental impacts (GHG emissions, air pollution and noise). Through the creation of safe and public spaces, with high-quality design, appropriate densities and a mix of land uses and activities, TOD generates many social and economic benefits for sustainable development.

The nature and dimensions of TOD. Image source: Sigma-Despacio 2020 (under contract to CCAP).

The most important achievement of the NAMA is creating and attaining sustainability for CIUDAT: the Centro para Intervenciones Urbanas de Desarrollo Avanzado al Transporte. This center, housed within the national development bank, FINDETER, is governed by a Board of Directors with high-level representatives from six national Ministries: Housing, Transport, Environment, Energy, Finance and the National Planning Department. As the Financial Component moves forward on implementing projects, CIUDAT will coordinate their design, finance and evaluation, while continuing to provide for a future pipeline of quality TOD projects and supportive national and local policies.

Creating and growing a Center that promotes TOD at the national and local levels in Colombia was a central part of the change theory. An institution that faded away upon expiration of NAMA Facility funding would be unable to track, learn from and support TOD projects, which can take ten years to mature, and advance policy frameworks and finance mechanisms to scale up TOD implementation.

Structure of the Colombia TOD NAMA

CIUDAT has gained considerable recognition at the national and international levels. Its team has been called upon to present the TOD NAMA in a variety of international forums and webinars on how to develop, implement and evaluate transformational NAMAs. CIUDAT became a key focal point for discussions of sustainable transport initiatives among national Colombian Ministries, NGOs and international cooperation bodies. The NAMAS has supported the National Government commitments to the UNFCCC process. CIUDAT – with its staff, Advisory Committee and Board – has evolved into a strategic locale for coordinating efforts among the various ministries to advance national GHG mitigation commitments. FINDETER, the Ministries of Environment, Transport, Housing and the National Planning Department (DNP) approved inter-institutional cooperation on two related NAMAs to be integrated under the CIUDAT umbrella for further financial leverage: the NAMA TAnDem (active transport and demand management) and the Electric Mobility NAMA.

CIUDAT´s team has been active in publicizing the TOD NAMA in the press, on websites and through events. A few typical examples include:

• CIUDAT held an online event for Colombians in November 2020 marking the transition from the technical planning phase to the implementation phase.

• CIUDAT and CCAP held two international webinars in December summarizing the results of the TC.

• CIUDAT hosted a workshop for the Bogota Metro Company on the GHG benefits of TOD projects.

• The NAMA Facility published an article interviewing the CIUDAT Director.

Over the years, CIUDAT has expanded beyond its original mandate as it worked in partnership with other national government entities to pursue cooperation possibilities focused on GHG reduction.

• GCF: In 2018 Findeter was officially accredited as an implementing partner of the Green Climate Fund GCF, which opens the possibility for resources for GHG reduction initiatives.

• NAMA Facility: CIUDAT supported the National Government’s application to the NAMA Facility for the MovE NAMA (electric mobility), which has been granted € 338.000 for project design. The NAMA is in the second phase of the project design with the potential of for €19.6 Million for implementation.

CIUDAT continues to grow in importance within FINDETER and the national dialogue on sustainability and climate action. Recently, CIUDAT signed a new MoU, which replaced the original MOU with the Ministries of Transport, Housing, Environment and Planning. This MOU will include new NAMAs related to urban development and low-carbon development projects and adds the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy Mines to CIUDAT’s Board.

Over the course of the NAMA, the representatives from the Ministries on the CIUDAT Advisory Committee have provided core stability for the NAMA even as new Vice Ministers rotated onto the governing CIUDT Board. This has helped CIUDAT maintain a continuous connection with the Ministries over three different administrations to harmonize projects, programs and policies.

In early 2020, FINDETER underwent an organizational restructuring moving CIUDAT from the Planning section to and Financial section of the bank. CIUDAT is now located within the International Banking office (Banca Internacional). With this change the entire Findeter team charged with NAMA projects is situated in one single unit — strategically integrating CIUDAT staff with international development banking and administrative support staff. Even within an institutional environment that has undergone significant changes, CIUDAT has developed the resilience, stability and reputation to endure.

Read CCAP’s TOD Blog series where we present the different dimensions of the exciting accomplishments of the Technical Cooperation phase of the Colombia TOD NAMA

• Colombia TOD NAMA: 4 Years Later (actually 9 years later)

• TOD NAMA Pilot Projects primed for implementation

• A New Model of Equitable and Sustainable TOD around Future Bogota Metro Stations

• TOD NAMA Delivers National Policy Roadmap for Colombia

• Colombia TOD NAMA delivers comprehensive Measurement and Evaluation system

For much more information and detailed resources see the CCAP TOD NAMA page.