Bogota’s TransMilenio faced even more delays as the Urban Development Institute (IDU) of Bogota suspended the construction and expansion of the mass transit system along Carrera 7, reported RCN Radio on Tuesday.
The project was set to resume on Tuesday, September 27, but the IDU suspended it for the fourth time because Carrera Septima will not be fully usable until landslide damages to a nearby route, Avenida Circunvalar, are repaired.
Colombia’s Transportation Minister German Cardona Gutierrez reiterated the government’s commitment to the TransMilenio system in Bogota, but said it would keep resources frozen until studies regarding the expansion plan are finished.
“We’re waiting for Steer Davies Gleave studies on the subject…if these studies satisfy the Ministry of Transportation, we will immediately endorse the process to the mayor so that she can meet with the mayoral candidates, or with the new elected mayor on October 30, and they can make the decision to do definitive studies, or make another decision” said Cardona Gutierrez.
He said his office will wait about 10 days for the studies before doing an analysis of them and announcing the government’s decision on them.
The mayor, Clara Lopez, said that during the time that the contract is suspended, the district will develop a “green corridor project” and once they receive the resources from Humanitarian Colombia they will initiate the repair projects on the Circunvalar.
The construction of the route expansion through Carrera Septima has faced a multitude of problems and opposition since being suggested in 2007 and has been criticized for the visual pollution that it would create.