Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced Wednesday that construction on Bogota‘s first metro line will begin towards the end of 2012.
Speaking at an economic forum attended by various investors and businessmen in Berlin, Germany, the Colombian president fielded a question about the notoriously insufficient transportation network in the nation’s capital.
“We have already given approval for the choice of who will structure the project and then comes the bid to see who is going to build it,” said Santos, noting that “the government has already confirmed its interest in financing 70% of the metro, which should start to be built late next year.”
The Transmilenio bus network is currently the primary form of transport around Bogota, although the proposed construction works and extensions to the network have been plagued by allegations of corruption regarding the infamous Nule Group and the local government of Bogota.
Medellin is at present the only city in Colombia with a metro system, leaving the capital trailing behind the nation’s second-city in terms of efficient transport and mobility.