Grupo Carso not notified of inquiries, costs for Mexico City metro collapse

Mexican company Carso Infraestructura y Construcción (Cicsa), which built the elevated section of metro line No. 12 that collapsed on May 3, has still heard nothing from authorities regarding investigations into the accident and the associated costs. 

“The company has not been notified of any process as of this date” Cicsa CFO Arturo Spínola García told analysts during a conference call on Tuesday, adding “there is no information on the costs that the rehabilitation will involve, nor the details of it.”

“The company has told the authorities that it is in a position to agree to cover the costs associated with the section of line 12 that it built directly. That is, 6.7km,” he said, adding that the firm would not make any other comment. 

At the end of June, Mexican business mogul Carlos Slim, CEO of the Grupo Carso conglomerate that owns Cicsa, approached President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to offer to pay for the rehabilitation of the line. AMLO then promised to have the 23km line repaired and running within a year.

So far, the government of Mexico City has launched two inquiries into the collapse that killed 26 and hospitalized dozens more almost three months ago. 

Norwegian firm DNV was awarded a 26mn-peso (US$1.3mn) contract by the administration of city mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to carry out the technical analysis, while the city attorney general’s office said it had begun a criminal investigation of its own. In addition, the Mexican college of civil engineers (CICM) was assigned to conduct a full study on the rest of the 20-station line. 

On June 16, the first of three preliminary reports from DNV indicated that construction flaws could had been the main factor leading to the accident. The firm will present its second preliminary report and final report in August and September, respectively. 

Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office in the capital said on July 19 that it is working on identifying the people – including builders, supervisors and public officers – who were responsible for the tragedy. 

As soon as the investigations are concluded, it “will be able to formulate the theory of the case and make the corresponding charges for the crimes of homicide, injury and damage to property,” the office said in a statement. 

During the presentation of its first inspection report on the remainder of the metro line, CICM announced that 32% of the elevated sections have flaws that must be addressed before it can be reopened.