Buenos Aires metro tenders hit by delays as investment plans await approval

Buenos Aires subway operator Sbase will invest 1.01tn pesos (US$995mn) in 2025-27, according to a plan of the Argentine capital city's government, although recent tenders have been hit by delays.

A US$294mn auction to replace 29 trains for line B, which was originally launched in August 2023, has been postponed again, with the bid opening date now set for January 10, the operator said in a press release.

Sbase also postponed the bid opening date for a US$50mn tender to acquire 74 electric buses and install 60 electric chargers for a corridor linking the city’s Belgrano and Retiro neighborhoods. The new date is January 24.

The 2025-27 investment plan was presented alongside the city government’s 2025 budget bill submitted to the local legislature in early October. 

The city congress has until the end of the year to approve the budget. A vote hasn’t been held yet though the last ordinary session of the year is scheduled for December 12, local daily Pura Ciudad reported last week.

The bill’s message states that some of the main investments for next year include continuing the engineering phase of line F (US$2bn), the third US$11.4mn stage of a plan to install pedestrian tunnels linking stations of lines B, C and D, renovating stations and electric rail infrastructure, and planning new rolling stock tenders for other lines, documents show. 

Sbase is also putting out to tender improvements for stations on lines A, B and D.

The investments planned for Sbase in 2025 total 337bn pesos, while 257bn are planned for 2026 and 417bn pesos for 2027.