Doppelmayr hoping to start US$155mn Guatemalan cable car system this year

Austrian engineering company Doppelmayr is hoping to receive approval from Guatemala's congress this year to begin works on the 1.2bn-quetzal (US$155mn) first stage of the Aerometro cable car system.

The firm won the contract in a consortium with three local companies, Cablevía de Guatemala, Desarrollos Residenciales Victoria and Desarrollos Torinos, in November 2020.

The firm would like to receive the go-ahead from congress “this year to be able to start at year-end or early next year,” the CEO of Doppelmayr México, Konstantinos Panagiotou, told BNamericas.

“We're awaiting the resolution. The problem is that every day that passes is worse for both the project and for us because of what's happening in the world. We know that the war in Ukraine has had a huge impact on steel – steel prices have increased a lot, shipping container prices as well. We hope there will be a quick response,” he said.

The project involves a 25-year concession to build and operate a 9km cable car system with 11 stations to connect the capital to the adjacent city of Mixco. It will be fully financed by the private sector.   

The project was submitted to congress in August.

“The process in Guatemala is as follows: once you have won the tender, you sign the contract with the municipality and this, by law, has to go to congress to ratify the contract,” Panagiotou said, adding that the full legislative review process involves three readings. 

“We've passed two readings. The last reading is pending and we're waiting to see when it will take place in congress,” he said.

The project is the second attempt at building a cable car system in the capital. In 2018, the US$100mn Cablemetro project was scrapped after a failed bidding process, due to problems with funding and designs.