Deadline for Bogota metro proposals extended
BOGOTA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Five consortiums now have until Oct. 3 to present their proposals for the first line of Bogota's metro system, whose value is estimated at 14 trillion pesos ($4.1 billion), the city's metro company said on Wednesday.
Proposals were initially meant to be in by Sept. 24, but the deadline was extended after requests from several of the pre-qualified bidders, the metro company, Empresa Metro de Bogota (EMB), said in a statement.
The extension will not affect the date for the awarding of the contract to build the 24-km (15-mile) elevated line, which is set for Oct. 21, EMB said.
A total of 29 companies from China, Italy, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Brazil and other nations are part of the five consortiums.
The metro, promised by city officials for decades, is considered key to taming traffic on Bogota's congested and chaotic roadways. It is meant to complement the city's Transmilenio system of buses.
Bogota, which has more than 9 million residents, will provide some 30% of the subway funding. The remainder will come from the national government.
One consortium is comprised of Mexico's Carso Infraestructura y Construccion, FCC Concesiones de Infraestructura S.L.U. and Promotora del Desarrollo de América Latina, S.A. de C.V.
Another includes Mexico's ICA Constructora, Germany's Siemens Project Ventures, Controladora de Operaciones de Infraestructura, S.A. DC.UV., Power China International Group Limited and Strukton Integrale Projecten B.V.
The third includes Italy's Impregilo International Infraestructures, Acciona Construcción S.A., Ansaldo STS S.P.A. and Hitachi Rail Italy S.P.A.
China's China Harbour Engineering Company Limited and Xi'an Metro Company Limited make up the fourth consorium.
South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd is part of the fifth consortium, along with Concesiones Colombia S.A.S., Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles CAF Colombia S.A.S., and STOA S.A.R. (Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb Editing by Leslie Adler)
