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Bogotá took a definitive step to make the subway a reality, which for more than seven decades was a kind of frustration. Before the first line, at least six or seven projects came up, but they stayed on paper. And although there are still about 8 years to go to see the electric trains traveling through the 23.9 km long viaduct between Bosa and Los Héroes, that dream is clearer and closer.
(It may interest you: Metro de Bogotá, a dream that is getting closer and closer)
Behind the achievement are Presidents Duque and Santos and former Mayor Peñalosa and Mayor Claudia López, But the one who had on his shoulders the responsibility of rethinking the megaproject, whose cost exceeds 21 billion pesos, including interest on the loans, is Andrés Escobar, a paisa engineer based 35 years ago in Bogotá.
He led the team made up of the former secretaries Beatriz Arbeláez (Finance), Juan Pablo Bocarejo (Mobility), Dalila Hernández (Legal) and Raúl Buitrago (General) that started the tender and carried out the first line.
(The Council approved Claudia López’s economic reactivation plan)
Almost 5 years ago, Enrique Peñalosa asked you to take charge of the metro project, when there was still the debate between whether it was elevated or underground, how did you receive that proposal?
Since 1993 I have been linked to the District at various times. He was in the private sector, managing a construction company, when Peñalosa won the mayoralty. Then he says to me: ‘Andrés, what do you want to do?’ I told him: ‘Absolutely nothing, I’m tired, I already did what I had to do, I feel like repeating myself.’ After the year started, he called me again, and that afternoon Mauricio Cárdenas, the Minister of Finance, called me; I was told: ‘The President and the mayor are looking for a person to manage the subway, who is capable of taking it forwardWe have brought them several names and there has been no agreement, until theirs appeared. ‘ When the reason is from the President, things changed and they made me think, I spent two nights without sleeping, in the end I said “ready”. It was a big challenge and there are people who like challenges.
And when I met with the President I said to him: ‘You know I have no idea of meters, I am a civil engineer and I have always worked in construction.’ And he told me: ‘Yes, I know, but in Colombia there is no one who knows how to do meters, we have searched and asked for references and there is no one who knows meters. We need someone to manage a project and that’s you. ‘
(This is how the trains that are being manufactured for the metro will be)
Weren’t you worried, since you had to rethink the layout and designs?
It did worry me, but what you had to do was hire experts. We hired the FDN and a consultancy, run by Systra. They evaluated the alternatives. To us, without being experts in meters, our responsibility was to see the results, the comparisons in the alternatives and the technical criteria.
That served to make the Conpes. That is when the decision came to prioritize the elevated line to Los Héroes, up to 76, and the feeder trunk lines, because it was the only way for the benefit-cost ratio to be positive.
How long has the process taken?
It has been a wear and tear, a very intense work, because it involves many management areas and we had to go to the Council three times, once for them to approve the creation of the Metro Company, another for future validity and another for the indebtedness with the Bank World. It was weeks and weeks in those discussions. That makes it complex.
(10 questions (and their answers) about the Bogotá Metro)
What were those days like?
(Laughs) For example, when Conpes and multilateral banking documents are made, that implies very long hours. But they are specific moments. Now, with the signing of the initiation act, there were also very demanding days, of 18 hours, where you neither sleep, nor go out, nor eat lunch or anything.
Did it happen to you that you had so many earrings that you couldn’t sleep?
If much. One stays connected with the issues and it is hard to sleep.
Did you ever feel like the project got tangled up?
We had that between April and May of this year, when we were getting the Minister of Finance to grant us the guarantee of the Nation for the issuance of the TPEs. The mission of 2.4 trillion pesos was a requirement to sign the initial act, and it was the first time that a sub-national entity issued an internal debt with the guarantee of the Nation. We came to think that we were not going to be able to make that issue and we were going to be left without completing the financing.
That was critical, the contract was already signed …
Yes. And another very critical moment that generated the only discussion I had with Mayor Peñalosa was when we said that the contracting method was going to be a concession. That was very bad news for some subway builders, because what some like is ‘I won the contract, I do work, they pay me and I go’. In a concession you do the work and stay operating, and if things don’t work out, you are responsible and you will not receive payment.
(This will be the new main avenue Ciudad de Cali of TransMilenio)
Many shouted to the sky and said that we did not participate, and the ambassadors told the mayor that we were making a serious mistake and the tender was going to be deserted. We spent some very difficult nights, with a lot of tension. And apart from that we had macroeconomic problems, devaluations, and there were problems that generated additional risks that could take away the interest of companies to come to Colombia. That was in 2018.
Wasn’t this pandemic another headache?
Yes. It was very difficult because, first, the real obstacles started here in Colombia, which greatly affected the management of properties and abroad, the bidding for the auditing and the concession itself, because these companies could not do their job, they couldn’t get certified, engineers couldn’t travel. That is why we were late, but that did not put the project at risk.
Another very difficult moment was the political campaign (2019). Too many things were said, particularly one candidate dedicated himself to suing us and telling us corrupt and everything, that was very boring. Fortunately, that did not end in anything and Claudia López clarified all that.
How many signatures were finally submitted?
We had six finalists who produced documents and were in the final phase, the observation phase. On the final day, three groups arrived, one incomplete and two complete, that day we breathed because the ambassadors’ forecasts were not fulfilled.
And did you breathe?
Total. I had not slept for several days, and I went back to sleeping and eating.
How did you receive the ratification in the position?
It was very satisfying. Personally, because all that confusion and all those accusations that had been made in the campaign were very clear, and secondly, because it was the opportunity to continue working, because one falls in love with the project and what he wants most is for things to go well.
(‘We are prepared to sign the act of commencement of the metro works’)
Should the ML 1 SAS consortium be the contractor?
Without a doubt he was the best, he more than met all the technical and experience requirements; he over-fulfilled them in the first round, and in the last round; In the economic proposal he swept, he took a huge advantage over the second, with great savings.
Does the cultural issue of the Chinese, the disposition and what they have shown so far how they want to start the project give you peace of mind?
Even in that we have done well, Chinese culture is a very distant culture from ours, in physical terms and in terms of tradition, values and how they live. Even in that we have done very well, because it has become a learning experience to work with them, interact with them, another reason that we are optimistic and sure that we are going to develop a project on time and in good deadline and budget compliance as close to or equal to what is planned, although it is very difficult in these projects are large.
How long do you rest with the signing of the initiation act, or are there still more challenges?
This looks like an obstacle course, when one jumps last there is obviously a break. The minutes symbolize that we overcome obstacles, that we do not stumble. This year the obstacles were related to the pandemic and the bidding for the audit; It started last year with Peñalosa, but ended this year with Claudia, that tender could also have been deserted. That the good firms that passed the technical qualification did not come to Colombia for whatever reason, and that meant a very big setback.
Do you consider that you have already completed the task?
No. We finished a very important phase, with many obstacles, because it was the project creation phase. Now the greater responsibility passes to the executing group, but here there is much to do, we are responsible for paying the immense sums, on the order of 10 billion pesos, in these eight years. That comes ahead.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRÍGUEZ
Bogota Editor
On twitter: @ guirei24
Keep reading:
– Claudia López praised President Iván Duque.
– Signing of the act of commencement of works, a giant step for the Bogotá metro.
-Reactivation plan, within hours of being a District norm
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