Bolivian govt pins blame on Cochabamba mayor for delay to US$450mn railway

Bolivia’s public works minister Edgar Montaño accused the mayor of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes, of hampering the reactivation and advance of the US$447mn MiTren light rail system being built in that city, over disagreements on the route of one of the lines. 

Montaño said that the national government has so far presented eight proposals for the design of the 7.7km yellow line, which links the Rocha river crossing with the Castillo neighborhood, but all have been rejected, the ministry stated in a release.

“Hopefully this isn’t a political position, because we have heard the mayor say several times that he was going to do everything possible to carry out the project,” the minister added. 

Last week, Reyes said it was “impossible” to finish the line as it was originally envisioned, as it would involve dismantling existing bridges and underpasses, while he proposed to build it as an elevated line instead, daily Opinión reported.

Despite the problems with the yellow line, the public works ministry aims to start tests on the system’s two other lines (red and green) on September 14.

The overall system covers 42km and will link the municipalities of Sipe Sipe, Vinto, Quillacollo, Cercado, Colcapirhua and Sacaba.

Works were initially carried out by construction consortium AAT, which was recently acquired by Spanish group Urbas amidst a conflict regarding subcontractor payments. 

On that front, Montaño said that he public works ministry had authorized a 52mn-boliviano (US$7mn) disbursement to pay workers whose paychecks were affected while the project was paralyzed for a year.