international
construction
may 2014
REGIONALREPORT: LATINAMERICA
26
Infrastructure emphasis
is a schemenewly launchedby theMinistryofCommunications
andTransport to linkMexicoCitywith15municipalities along
a 212 km rail link ending at El Marqués y Querétaro. The
budget for the project is put atUS$ 3.2 billion.
Further South in continental South America there are metro
schemes at various stages in the Colombian, Ecuadorian and
Chilean capitals of Bogota,Quito and Santiago.
In Quito, Ecuador, four consortia have reached the pre-
qualification stage for the country’s first metro line. It will be a
22kmnorth-south link through the capitalwith16 stations and
a budget of US$ 1.6 billion.
Plans for theBogota,Colombiametro are still at the surveying
stage, but it is possible construction could begin next year on
the city’s proposed first 26.5 km, 28 station urban railway.The
budget is likely to be aroundUS$ 1.2 billion.
It is a different case in Santiago, Chile, where the already
established metro system is seeing a 22 km extension built on
Line 3 and an additional 15.3 km added to Line 6. The total
investment is put at US$ 2.8 billion and when complete in
2018, the city will have a 140 km metro network with 136
stations.
Limametro
Meanwhile in the Peruvian capital of Lima, a consortium
including Spain’s FCC and ACS, along with Impregilo and
Ansaldo of Italy and local company Cosapi has won the € 3.9
billion (US$ 5.3 billion) contract to design, build, finance,
operate andmaintain the newLine 2 of the city'smetro system,
and a spur fromLine 4 to the airport. Construction is expected
to take five years, followedby a 30 year operationperiod for the
concession.
The scheme will involve 35 km of track – all underground –
and 35 stations. Line 2 is a 27 km east-west connection though
Lima. It is expected to serve 600,000 commuters per day when
complete and save as much as 90 minutes in travel times,
compared tomaking the same journey by car.
The spur from Line 4 to Jorge Chaves airport meanwhile will
be 8 km longwith eight stations.
So there is no doubt that there is the will to invest in
infrastructure in Latin America, and for now there are projects
making it through to completion. The question for the region
is how can it maintain and increase these investments in the
face of weak GDP growth and with only limited experience of
PPPmodels.
iC
D
isputes and cost over-runs on the project to increase the capacity of the Panama
Canal could push completion back to the end of 2015. But when it is complete,
this vital trade link between the Pacific andAtlantic oceanswill be able to handle
much bigger vessels.
The largest ships currently able to use the canal – so-called Panamax vessels – have
a capacity of 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers. However, the larger
locks that are currently under constructionwill handleNew Panamax vessels of up to
13,000 TEU. But even this is a little behind the times, given that there aremore than
100 cargo vessels in service todaywith capacities in excess of 13,000 TEU, the largest
approaching 19,000 TEU.
The opportunity this presents and the example Panama has set, which shows how
lucrative infrastructure like the Canal can be, has encouraged rival schemes to be
developed by neighbouring countries.
Themost credible is Guatemala’s US$ 8 billion Inter-Oceanic corridor. Thiswill
comprise ports on either coast that can cater for 22,000 TEU vessels, linked by a
372 km twin track railway line. Thiswill run alongside a four-pipe ‘Energy Corridor’ to
pump crude oil, gas and petroleum products between the two ports. Sites in San Luis
on the Pacific and San Jorge on the Atlantic have been identified for the ports, each of
whichwould have a capacity of 7.6million TEU per year.
The Guatemalan government is currently looking to develop all this infrastructure
under Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) contractswith a concession period of 50 years.
Themajor hurdle for the scheme is seen as land issues, as it would impact on some
58municipalities in ten regions. There are estimated to be 3,500 land owners along the
route and the current compensation plan is for amixture of cash and shares in the new
development.
Amore distant prospect is themooted US$ 40 billion, 300 km link planned by the
Nicaraguan government and a hand-picked developer, Hong KongNicaragua Canal
Development Investment Co. (HKNDGroup). The project to link the Caribbean and
Pacific via some 100 km of excavated canal and LakeNicaraguawas approved
last June by a controversial vote in Congress. A ten-year construction periodwas
envisaged, but the schemewas delayed in January at the feasibility study stage to
re-visit the proposed route.
Atlantic-Pacific links
Competition for the Panama Canal
Guatemala
Jalapa
Cuilapa
Jutiapa
Esquipulas
Chiquimula
Chiquimulilla
Las Lisas
Los Amates
El Estor
Livingston
Morales
Puerto
Barrios
Puerto Santo
Tomas de
Castilla
Gualán
Zacapa
Mataquescuintla
Pacific Port
(San Luis)
Atlantic Port
(San Jorge)
G
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AT
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AL
A
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O
ND
UR
AS
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L
S
AL
VA
DO
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Inter-Oceanic Corridor
SOURCE: INTER-OCEANIC CORRIDOR OF GUATEMALA (CIG)
A US$ 5.3 billion investment in Lima’smetro systemwill
see 35 km of track and 35 stations added over the next
five years.
