Bogota announces $9.1B infrastructure plan

Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro announced Monday a $9.1 billion infrastructure plan, part of the most expensive development plan in the city’s history.

The plan, known as “Human Bogota,” will be carried out over a four-year period and cost approximately $34.6 billion, with most funds being directed toward public transportation and social and environmental issues.

Petro said the plan aimed to make Bogota “a city that reduces segregation and discrimination, in which human beings are at the center of development concerns.”

Of the $9 million earmarked for infrstructure, the majority will be spent on improving the Transmilenio mass transit system and installing a light rail system.

In March, five Transmilenio stations were destroyed by rioters apparently angered by the poor service of the metro system.

The new plan also included $8.3 billion for education, $4.8 billion for health, $2.8 billion for social integration and $1.8 billion for shelter.

At a press conference, Treasury Secretary Ricardo Bonilla said the government will fund the plan “with its own resources, current income from taxation, transfers from the national government and surpluses of public enterprises.”

Officials filed the plan Monday and the city council will begin debating it on Wednesday.

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