Bello seeks US$41.9mn for road

The Colombian city of Bello is seeking to build a road corridor with an estimated cost of 120bn pesos (US$41.9mn), reports El Tiempo. The city would like work to start in 2005 but depends upon whether the government will agree to cover 70% of the project financing. Officials from the city of 371,000 people in Antioquia department hope the government will agree to fund the project as it conforms to Law 310 passed in 2002. However, the transport and finance ministries think that the project is too expensive, according to the newspaper. The plan calls for a road corridor to be developed through the 90 km. sq. La Garcia basin that is home to 200,000 people. The transportation project is one of six that the Urban Development Co. (EDU) has prioritized for the transportation system known as Metroplus that is a similar to the Transmilenio system under construction in Bogota. Bus lanes figure prominently in the proposal and would be the first items to be built. A large-scale public park is also planned between the channel passing through the basin and the road. EDU is currently engaged in a feasibility study for the project, which, if it proceeds, will necessitate the relocation of 1,300 dwellings. Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM) that is building a treatment plant in the north of the valley to decontaminate the Medellin River, may be asked by Bello city officials to incorporate a drainage system for La Garcia as part of the development.