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The resignation of the Company manager Bogotá metro (EMB) marks a new stage in the entity, which will have a regional perspective. On his management there are divided opinions between what he left walking and the reproaches to the elevated meter.
The resignation of Andrés Escobar to the management of the Company Bogotá metro (EMB) and the restructuring that is planned to be carried out in the entity is the first big change in the cabinet of Mayor Claudia López. Although there are other sectors in which the District has been criticized, such as security and mobility, this is the first high-level official to leave the administration. And he does so after five years of work in which, regardless of the successes and questions, he remains with the merit of having been the official who managed to start a project that had been talked about for more than 70 years.
Apparently, so key was his role at the head of the entity, that he was the only official in the administration of Enrique Peñalosa that was ratified by Mayor López. Hence, for many his resignation, which he made official yesterday before the board of directors of the EMB, has been a surprise. And although the detractors of the elevated metro have their own theories about the exit (they assure that it should have left much earlier), for Escobar this step is nothing more than the closing of a cycle, after having fulfilled the task for which he was appointed.
> READ: Andrés Escobar makes his resignation official as manager of the Bogotá Metro Company
“The conditions have been given for a change in the management of the company to take place,” Escobar said in the formalization of his resignation, who incidentally took the opportunity to thank former President Juan Manuel Santos for supporting the project and guaranteeing 70% of its financing, and the former mayor Enrique Peñalosa, for leading the initiative, to the point of leaving it hired and in the hands of the Chinese consortium, which is currently carrying out work in the southwest of Bogotá, where the patio-workshop will be built. He also recognized the work of President Iván Duque, for giving continuity to the work and endorsing international credit processes.
And the fact is that the elevated meter, beyond the criticisms and comparisons with other projects, was the first to materialize due to the articulation that was achieved by the last two national and district governments. Although in other administrations there were advances and more complete layouts were contemplated, they never had enough support to materialize what was on paper. It was thanks to that work that Escobar today remains in history not only as the person responsible for the good or bad that happens with the project, but also as the one who achieved the green light that the works needed for the first time.
> READ: Metro de Bogotá: a work almost of acupuncture and citizen patience
To get to this point, the former manager and his team had to navigate 89 steps from January 2016 to today, starting from the creation of the same entity, going through the management to achieve future validity and loans with multilateral banks to finance the $ 12.9 billion that the first line will cost, the anticipated transfer of networks, the contracting of the auditors and the contracting of pre-feasibility studies, to extend the subway to the northwest, in the towns of Engativá and Suba.
Despite the fact that Escobar’s departure was on the best terms, so much so that he and Mayor López exchanged words of appreciation and gratitude, the decision was not shared by those who support the elevated metro. Councilor Lucía Bastidas (Alianza Verde) regretted her departure. “This is unfortunate news. The first line is still walking. Hopefully a technical person arrives, who is up to the task, because Escobar was clear about the project. Whoever comes to the EMB receives a consolidated company, an ongoing project and the support of the national and district governments. The important thing is that he concentrates on doing the work ”.
> READ: “With the subway works, vehicular traffic will move to give priority to TM”: manager of the Bogotá Metro
The objections
The achievements, however, were not the only aspect to highlight during Andrés Escobar’s tenure. In his career leading the project, he was also surrounded by controversies. On the one hand, by the indications of those who demanded that the subway be made underground. On the other, due to reports from control entities, which account for some aspects of concern regarding the execution of the project. For example, the most telling is the document presented by the District Comptroller’s Office in October of this year, in which it cuts the accounts of the 2019 period of the EMB. In the end, the report reveals 86 audit findings (45 administrative, 38 disciplinary, two criminal and one tax for a value that exceeds $ 1,048 million).
For this reason, opponents of the elevated metro affirmed that Escobar left office amid several doubts and questioned the mayor for not removing him earlier. Councilor Ana Teresa Bernal (Colombia Humana) said that “an official who deceived Bogotá is leaving” and that under the premise that the elevated metro was faster and cheaper, he knocked down the metro. “Now we see that it was not like that. The subway was more convenient, it was more advanced, as established by the Comptroller’s Office. We lost five years while Quito at the same time brought forward its underground metro ”.
Bernal added that “it is inexplicable how this administration supported for a year such a questioned official in charge of the most important infrastructure project in the country. His departure is late, because the damage has already been done ”. Lobbyist Heidy Sánchez, also from Colombia Humana, asked about the report of the technical oversight of the contractual process, which the mayor announced once she was elected. “Until today we do not know the results of that commission.”
> READ: Inhabitants of different towns in Bogotá will follow up on Metro works
“Escobar should have been the first to be removed from office for what he represents. He is a builder who threw away the studies of the underground subway and today we have a series of irregularities, because there are no detailed engineering studies. Cost overruns are already foreseen, steps are being taken without having complete studies and there are hand contracts, but there is already talk of a second phase, ”added Sánchez.
With the departure of Escobar from the EMB, a stage is closed in which the main thing was to specify the necessary actions to secure the money and start a work that has been talked about for more than seven decades. Now, although the debate will continue on whether or not his exit was convenient, another cycle begins that, according to the District, will be based on expanding and restructuring the company, in accordance with the proposals of the Development Plan that seeks to leave the city a network regional meter.
The challenges for those who manage the Metro Company
The person chosen to replace Andrés Escobar in the management of the Metro Company will have several challenges, which include ensuring the execution of the works within the deadlines established in the schedule. The main thing will be to resolve the doubts surrounding the construction of the courtyard-workshop in the El Corzo sector, in Bosa, so that the works do not take more than the stipulated six years. Likewise, it will have to complete the purchase of land and the transfer of public service networks so that, in parallel with the works in the courtyard-workshop, the works to build the depressed one at the intersection of Av. Caracas with Calle 72 , which are scheduled for May 2021.
> READ: This will be the expansion of the Bogotá Metro to Suba and Engativá
Another challenge will be to carry out the restructuring of the EMB in accordance with the guidelines of Mayor López, who proposed expanding the first metro line to a regional network that complements the Regiotram of the west (in execution) and the north (in progress). studies). Finally, it will have to complete the studies and obtain financing for the extension of the metro to the west.
