Bogotá Metro secures $70m from development bank

1016
The skyline of Bogota. Photo: OSTILL.
The skyline of Bogota. Photo: OSTILL.
Listen to this article

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to loan $70 million to assist with construction of Line 1 of the Bogota Metro, Colombia.

This line will cover the area with the biggest demand for transportation in town – Caracas Avenue between 1 and 72 streets.

Once the full network is complete, the automated and elevated metro will be around 24km-long.

Bogota’s urban growth over the past 20 years has turned it into Latin America’s fourth best city in terms of economic dynamism, according to IDB.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter


This growth has seen an 81 per cent rise in the use of cars and a 308 per cent increase in the use of motorcycles between 2007-2016. As a result, Bogota now ranks among the world’s most traffic congested cities.

Research from the IDB reveals that this rapid urbanisation has affected mobility, in particular for public transport users, whose travel speed has plunged from 19.2km/h to 16.6km/h from 2010-2015 – a productivity loss of 172,000 hours/day for the city.

This project aims to contribute to Bogota’s economic growth, improve citizens’ mobility and quality of life and help to reduce CO2 emissions in the capital district.

As a result of IDB’s decision, an international bidding process will now be launched by the Bogota Metro to find a company or group of companies to develop the project further.


Read more: Spanish engineers join Jacobs on Dublin Metro development team


 

Previous articleSpanish engineers join Jacobs on Dublin Metro development team
Next articleSunRail’s southern expansion opens in Florida