Seventy years in the making, the scheduled construction of Bogota’s first metro line has been delayed yet again in the face of financial woes. The $3.3 million set aside for the project are now frozen in the bank, just as the country is experiencing an economic deceleration which will lead to budget cutbacks in 2016. To add more difficulty, the recent hike in the dollar has further increased the project’s expenses.
The Office for the Reorganization of Transport (Opret) this week announced that Line 2 construction work is nearing completion and network testing is expected to begin within the next 6 months. Opret deputy director Leonel Carrasco said that a tunnel, which has been constructed as part of the works, has been a particularly complicated undertaking, has now been fully constructed.
Metro de Medellin today put the new tram network into operation, as General Manager Claudia Restrepo explained plans for Metro de Medellin to continue expanding and innovating the region’s transport network, which now incorporates metro, cablecar, tram, buses, public bike rental, urban escalators and BRT systems, with monorail the latest technology to be discussed.
The Colombian National Development Financier (FDN) has announced that the second phase of the $13.5 billion project, 9.5 billion of which will be state funded, will be complete towards the end of 2016, at which point tenders will be open on the capital’s transport mega-project. The Institute for Urban Development (IDU) have also confirmed that their contribution towards the project is in place.
An Alstom lead consortium, including CIM, Sofratesa, Thales and TSO has been awarded the contract to provide rolling stock and systems for Panama Metro’s new Line 2 project. The contract was awarded by Consórcio Línea 2 and is expected to be complete by the start of 2019. Line 2 will have integrated connections with Line 1, which was completed in April 2014.
The mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, announced on Thursday 24 September that the Metro Alianza consortium have been award the initial $27.9 million Line 1 project management contract, following agreements with multilateral lending agencies. According to Rodas, the final amount agreed with the consortium is lower than the initial budget reference set at $31 million.
Metro São Paulo have responded to criticism published in O Estado, insisting that the Line 17 (Gold) project is on track to be operational by the end of 2016, explaining the additional costs involved in current monorail projects, and making assurances regarding the operation of Line 15 (Silver), though admitting initial train speeds are lower than was first presented.
The plans for the Bogota Metro may once again have to be re-written, as Enrique Peñalosa, currently leading in the polls, outlines his plans for urban transport in the city and changes he would make to the strategy approved by the incumbent Gustavo Petro. “We are going to build the subway line, but it should be elevated, not underground,” the mayoral candidate explained in a recent interview.
Argentine Benito Roggio, Spanish Sacyr Concesiones, a consortium of Valencia based Torrescámara, Vossloh y FGV and the international KBR Group, lead by Alstom and Isolux Corsam are the final four bidders under consideration for the 40km project linking the Paraguyan capital with nearby Ypacarai. Proposals are now being evaluated, with a final decision scheduled for January 2016.
The Minister for Canal Affairs and the Chairman of Metro de Panama, Roberto Roy, this week presented an official order signaling approval to proceed with the construction of Line 2 of the Panama Metro, a project which will be managed by a Brazilian-Spanish consortium led by Odebrecht. The initial route will run 21km along an elevated track, with 16 stations.
