The Minister of Transportation, Guillermo Reyes, defended the pressure exerted by the government of President Gustavo Petro so that the Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, accept change the design of the first line of the Metro, as the president wants.
López has assured that he will defend the position that this megaproject is inaugurated in 2028, as budgeted with the current elevated subway design. The Petro option would imply a delay of at least 6 years, until 2034, and there is strong discussion about its billionaire cost and its legal feasibility.
(See: Claudia and her request to Petro: to co-finance the Regiotram del Norte).
What happened to the Metro issue?
If the mayor’s office is not going to accept anything, and what was agreed was different, then we also do not finance the projects in Bogotá. That easy.
Does that mean that if the Underground Metro proposal is not accepted, the financing of that project may be at stake?
Nerd. The first thing I have said is not whether it is accepted or not. It is that if we talk about that we put 70% of the financing of line 1 and it had been agreed that these dialogues were going to be held, these work tables, but from the Mayor’s Office they come out and say that they do not accept anything, well we We are not going to rotate the money from other projects either. Others from other cities will be prioritized.
(See: Attorney’s Office alerts risks if the Metro contract is changed).
In other words, the project would not be affected for now?
On the topic of line 1, we will have to wait and see how the topic progresses.
And what other projects are we talking about that would be affected?
From the Regiotram of the north, from the cables, because all those go with our money, with 70%. So if the issue is not doing it for good, respecting what has been agreed, then the National Government also has what to do with its checkbook. Each one knows what he does with his money and if the agreements are not respected, well imagine.
For the National Government, the Mayor’s Office is not respecting the agreements that were made?
Yes sir. I can reaffirm that it is so.
Claudia Lopez and Gustavo Petro.
WEATHER Archive
And when we talk about agreement, we mean what?
Remember that the recently elected President told the mayoress to review the layout of line 1 and she replied that she was ready to talk, but clarified that if it cost more, the Government would pay for it. And the president told him that that’s it, that if it cost more, ‘I’ll pay for it, but let me allow the Chinese consortium to review the option of burying part of it’ and that’s when work began.
10 days ago, in the Palace the legal concepts were presented that give free rein so that modifications to the contract can be made, two working groups were agreed, but the next day the manager of the Bogotá Metro was already saying no, that is not it was going to change. And yesterday (Wednesday) the mayoress and the lawyer from the mayor’s office came out to say that they were going to continue with the project as it was. That is, ignoring what the President said.
(See: Petro says that the elevated Metro in Bogotá is a ‘chambonada’).
And then what will happen?
That when they are going to tell us to turn 70% for their projects, well, we are not going to turn it over or we are going to prioritize other municipalities or other projects.
But in what has to do with the first line of the metro, would the Government give the money?
We are going to wait, we are going to wait, because here are some issues that were agreed upon at the table and if the possibilities for dialogue are broken, then we will see what happens.
(See: Bogotá Metro: how viable is it to change the contract?).
And do you feel that those possibilities for dialogue are broken?
Well, it is that when they go out to make a statement as harsh as that of the mayor and the mayor’s attorney, it seems that why work tables if they are not going to accept what the Nation says.
WEATHER – POLITICS
