Colombia’s finance minister, Miguel Gómez Martínez, has announced that the government will file an urgent bill seeking 1.2tn pesos for the electricity sector. The proposed funding is intended to maintain liquidity measures and secure electricity supply as the country faces the threat of El Niño.
A bill aimed at sector liquidity
The announcement came during a political oversight debate on the energy sector crisis in the Fifth Commission of Colombia’s Senate. Gómez Martínez said the government would file a bill with a message of urgency to secure 1.2tn pesos. The money would support liquidity measures intended to guarantee electricity supply across the country in the face of the threat posed by El Niño. The proposal therefore concerns the financial capacity needed to keep the electricity service supplied, rather than the award of a specific construction, generation or supply contract. For businesses, the distinction matters: a funding bill can create or preserve the financial conditions for service delivery, while a later procurement process would determine whether particular goods, works or services are bought.
Urgency places the proposal before legislators
A message of urgency is the procedure the government has chosen to give the proposed bill priority as it is presented to the legislature. The source does not set out a timetable, identify the bill’s text or explain how quickly the Senate and other legislators would consider it. Gómez Martínez asked the legislature to support the initiative once it is formally presented. That means the announcement establishes the government’s request and intended use of the funds, but not yet a completed financing arrangement. The minister said the resources would be directed to maintaining liquidity measures, while the specific sources from which the 1.2tn pesos would be raised remain unknown. No procurement award or supplier selection is identified in the announcement.
A second injection is also cited
The proposed 1.2tn pesos comes alongside a separate injection of 1.5tn pesos described as intended to guarantee the provision of electricity. The source gives no further detail on the timing, instrument, recipients or conditions attached to that earlier injection. It also does not specify which electricity companies or projects would receive money under either measure. The immediate policy message was stated by Gómez Martínez during the Senate session: “No vamos a dejar que el país se apague” — “We are not going to let the country go dark.” Energy and Mines Minister Nohemí Arboleda also attended the debate. The measures are presented as a response to the electricity sector crisis and the threat of El Niño, but their final design remains to be set out.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Proposed amount | 1.2tn pesos |
| Separate injection | 1.5tn pesos |
| Procedure | Bill with a message of urgency |
| Purpose | Maintain liquidity measures and guarantee electricity supply |
| Risk cited | The threat of El Niño |
| Finance minister | Miguel Gómez Martínez |
| Energy and Mines minister | Nohemí Arboleda |
No vamos a dejar que el país se apague
WHY IT MATTERS
The announcement shows how a government can use legislation to seek sector-wide financial support before any individual procurement is launched. Until the bill’s funding sources and final terms are disclosed, suppliers and public buyers have no stated basis for identifying specific tenders, recipients or contract conditions.
Reported from eltiempo.com, 2026-09-10. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
