Plans to commence construction of Bogota‘s first underground metro line received support from Colombia’s finance minister, who on Tuesday vowed to help the capital find the $7.5 billion necessary for the mega project.
MORE: Bogota presents $7.5B plan for Colombian capital’s 1st metro line
Minister of Finance Mauricio Cardenas and vice-Minister Ricardo Bonilla met with the mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro, and reached an agreement on the implementation of the project aiming to improve public transport in the capital.
According to W Radio,a three tier plan was initiated and an initial outline of costs agreed on. The outcome was that the government would pay for 70% of the works, such as tunneling and excavation for the new metro system, but the rest of the funding would fall on the Bogota district and private companies.
Who will fund the project?
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MORE: Where does Bogota think it can obtain $7.5B for its metro plans?
As a result of the meeting three key stages have been agreed on to jump start the construction of the metro system.
- Validation of study facts
- Financial structure for FDN
- Definition of institution involvement
Cardenas posted on his Twitter account that he had “agreed on a roadmap for the improving mobility in Bogota” in his talks with Petro.
Bogota has been talking about a Metro for more than 60 years, and more than $36,000,000 has been spent on the five studies conducted since 1980.
The current Transmilenio bus system, the most used mode of transport in Bogota, has been the brunt of jokes for years due to its excessive over-crowding at peak hours and complaints of long waits and service disruptions.
The installation of a metro system would greatly improve mobility in the city where roughly 10 million journeys are taken daily, 70 percent of which are taken using public transport.
Sources
- Minhacienda y alcaldía buscan destrabar recursos para el Metro de Bogotá (El Tiempo)
- Gobierno sólo pondría $5 billones de pesos para el Metro de Bogotá (W Radio)
- Metro de Bogota (Bogota city council)