First metro line moves forward for Colombian capital

Colombia has prequalified six consortiums to construct and operate the capital Bogota's first metro system at an estimated cost of $4.4bn.

The fully elevated metro is expected to come online in five to seven years, Empresa Metro de Bogotá (EMB), which is leading the project, told Argus. EMB plans to award the contract by October.

The 24km (14.8 mile) project will start in the district of Bosa in western Bogota and end up on Caracas Avenue in the eastern part of the capital. The metro will feature 23 trains able to carry up to 1,800 passengers each. Ten of its 16 stations will connect to the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system.

The prequalified teams include leading international construction companies such as Mexico's Carso, Italy's Impregilo, Spain's Sacyr and Brazil's Camargo Correa.

Among those prequalified, Consorcio Metro de Bogotá is led by Mexico's Carso Infraestructura y Construcción, and includes FCC Concesiones de Infraestructura and Promotora del Desarrollo de América Latina.

The consortium APCA Metro Capital includes Mexico's ICA, Power China International Group and Siemens Project Ventures.

The third prequalified team is Consorcio Sunrise formed by Acciona Construcción, Italy's Impregilo International Infraestructures, Ansaldo STS and Hitachi Rail Italy.

The fourth consortium is APCA Transmimetro led by China Harbour Engineering and Xi'an Metro Company.

The last two are Consorcio Línea 1 which includes Obrascon Huarte Laín (OHL) and Camargo Correa Infra Construcoes; and Unión Metro Capital comprising Sacyr Concesiones Colombia, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), and Hyundai Engineering & Construction.

EMB expects to accept bids on 21 August and award the contract in late September or October. The winner will sign a 20-year contract with the government.

The electric rail metro will be financed with $3bn from national government funds and $1.28bn from the Bogota government. Multilateral banks including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Investment Bank have begun disbursing loans for the project.

City planners have discussed building a metro in Bogota for decades, but without any project coming to fruition. Smaller cities in Latin America, such as Panama City and Quito have functioning metros are or currently building them.

"This is the first time that a metro project, of the seven that have been designed in the past for Bogotá, reaches this point of maturity and advances to this stage," EMB manager Andrés Escobar said.

Residents of Bogota, a city of about eight million inhabitants, are currently battling some of the worst traffic in South America. Last year, traffic data agency INRIX ranked the city as among the 15 most congested capitals in the world.

The Bogota Metro will require 1.14mn m3 of concrete and a yet undetermined amount of asphalt, as 1.35mn m2 of public space will be refurbished, including building 16 stations and 28 access buildings, the reconfiguration of the road networks where the metro will pass (22.2 km) and the renovation or creation of 600,000 m2 of public space.