The Bogota Mayor’s Office has approached multilateral banks in an attempt to secure funding for the city’s first metro line, reported El Espectador newspaper.
The project is expected to cost around $13.2 billion, of which $9.6 billion will be provided by the Colombian government.
The sources of the funding has been broken down by the city’s administration: debt quota ($800 million), ETB (Bogota Telecommunications Company) and EEB (Bogota Electricity Company) reserves ($700 million), and 50% of the gasoline surcharges from the past 20 years ($2.6 billion).
Where does Bogota think it can obtain $7.5B for its metro plans?
El Espectador reports that now funding worth up to $3.5 billion is being sought from from multilateral banks.
Last week Bogota Metro manager Andres Escobar met with the World Bank, the inter-American Developmental Bank (IDB), and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), who could help finance the mega-project.
In a statement Escobar said “This last week we have taken some very important steps in relation to financing the Bogota metro. The metro is a very large project, so large that we will have to commit national and district funds for the next 30 years.”
According to the official, the banks have already begun studying the project and evaluating how the financing can be linked and supported.
Bogota presents all-new metro plan, 70 years after 1st proposal and 1 year after last
In March officials will begin approaching people living in the areas through which the first metro line will pass. The aim of this will be to inform people of the building process and the benefits of living so close to the system.
It has been some 70 years since a mass transit system was first proposed in Bogota. Up until now, residents of Colombia’s capital have relied on a weathered bus system to provide transport to 7 million people daily.
The lack of an efficient public transport system has left the city plagued by congestion and often dangerous levels of air pollution.
However the Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos seem to have agreed on the newly presented plan for a single elevated line.
The planned route will start at Portal de las Americas in the west of the city, and finish at Avenue Caracas in the east.