Preliminary construction on the $4 Billion USD 2400 Megawatt Ituango Hydroelectric (Hidroituango) dam began in September 2011 and the power plant was expected to begin operations in late 2018. When completed, it would be the largest power station in Colombia.

But in April 2018, the Auxiliary Diversion Tunnel (ADT) of the dam collapsed.

Why did this 2.3 kilometer long horseshoe-shaped tunnel width & height of 14 m collapse?  There remains still many questions unanswered.

An excellent analysis of the situation by Dean Brox, a licensed Professional Engineer in Canada andan independent consulting engineer for the planning, design, construction, operations, and inspections of underground projects. He is also the author of the technical paper titled “Hydropower Tunnel Failures - Risks and Causes”  presented at the WTC2019 in Napels, Italy.

https://www.financecolombia.com/epms-hidroituango-new-report-by-independent-geological-engineering-expert-challenges-existing-narrative/

*image: Svenswikipedia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)