Zona Franca Parque Central becomes the first free trade zone in the Colombian Caribbean certified as an Expert-level Eco-Industrial Park

October 2026 · PEI Colombia

Zona Franca Parque Central (ZFPC), in Cartagena, has received ICONTEC certification as an Expert-level Eco-Industrial Park. This is the most demanding category of NTC 6720:2023. It thus becomes the first free trade zone in the Colombian Caribbean to reach this level.

The achievement is part of the Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme (GEIPP). UNIDO implements it in Colombia with funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). In addition, in September 2026, UNIDO recognised three parks at Analdex’s 38th National Exporters Congress in Cartagena. They were Zona Franca del Pacífico, Zona Franca del Cauca and Zona Franca Parque Central.

 

What the Expert level of NTC 6720:2023 requires

NTC 6720:2023 – Eco-Industrial Parks. Sustainability requirements was developed by a technical committee convened by ICONTEC. It is aligned with the International Framework for Eco-Industrial Parks of UNIDO, the World Bank and GIZ. It assesses four dimensions: park management, environmental, social and economic.

The Expert level is the highest in the standard. To reach it, a park must show verifiable performance in all four dimensions at once. This requires traceable indicators, integrated risk management and a formal continuous improvement cycle.

 

Zona Franca Parque Central’s path to certification

In early 2024, UNIDO selected Zona Franca Parque Central for the programme’s second phase in Colombia. It was the first free trade zone in the Colombian Caribbean chosen for GEIPP technical support. That same year, the park began its certification process.

Since then, the park has also become a meeting point for the programme. In March 2024 it hosted the “Train the Trainers” workshop. There, participants from Colombian industry and representatives from Peru learned the tools of the eco-industrial model. Then, in 2025, it hosted the 2nd EIP General Managers Meeting. Participants visited its floating solar plant, its automation systems and its logistics centre.

In 2026, sustainability became one of the park’s strategic intervention clusters. Since then it has had its own targets and indicators, with the Expert level as its goal.

 

Zona Franca Parque Central results that can be demonstrated

According to Zona Franca Parque Central, these are some of the achievements behind its management as an Eco-Industrial Park:

• Water: an integrated cycle captures rainwater and stores it in a 180,000 m³ reservoir. It then distributes it as raw water and treats wastewater.
• Monitoring: a system tracks each company’s energy, water and waste. It is linked to the clauses of NTC 6720 and aligned with GRI standards.
• Waste: 66% of non-hazardous solid waste is recovered collectively.
• Industrial symbiosis: one company supplies cement sludge to another, which uses it to improve the subsoil. In addition, 13 exchange opportunities have been identified, such as wood pulp, steel shavings and pallet reuse.
• Energy: six photovoltaic systems generate 108,897 kWh per month, equivalent to avoiding around 554 tonnes of CO₂ per year. The park’s aggregate consumption, over 1.6 million kWh per month, is the basis for setting up an energy community.

 

“What isn’t measured can’t be improved, or demonstrated to those who demand it.”

— Cindy Hernández, Director of Infrastructure and Sustainability at Zona Franca Parque Central

For Hernández, the most underestimated challenge of the process was collective action among the park’s companies.

 

A benchmark for the Colombian Caribbean

Zona Franca Parque Central is located on the Variante Turbaco, 13 km from the port of Cartagena. It brings together more than 50 companies on more than 115 hectares and generates around 2,400 jobs. Its certification shows that the eco-industrial model also works in an environment of intense logistics and export activity.

With this achievement, Colombia now has three parks certified at the Expert level of NTC 6720:2023. Meanwhile, the country has seven parks prioritised by GEIPP. More than twenty others are implementing the model on their own and aim to become certified.

The Expert level, however, is not a finish line: it includes a formal continuous improvement cycle. For Zona Franca Parque Central and other parks, the next step is to sustain and improve these results every year.