Four consortiums, three containing Chinese firms, are competing to win work on the Bogotá metro’s second line.

Altogether, there is about $3.6bn of work on offer, covering construction, operation, and maintenance.

The 15.8km metro line will begin at Calle 72, the western terminus of Line One, and will run south to the Suba district. It will be almost entirely underground and will have 23 trains running between 11 stations.

The line is part of an ambitious plan to fit Bogotá with a modern public transit system made up of five metro lines, seven cable cars and two tram systems.

The four teams competing for the work are:

• Metro Línea 2 Bogotá The Colombian subsidiary of Portuguese contractor Mota Engil and Beijing-based CRRC, the world’s largest rolling stock maker;
• Apca Metro Línea 2 China Harbour Engineering, a subsidiary of China Communications, and Xi’An Rail Transportation Group, a subsidiary of China Railways;
• Apca Bogotá Metro 2 This is made up of China Railway Construction Electrification and China Railway Construction Corporation International Investment;
• Unión L2 Bogotá Metro Rail This is a Spanish team that includes Sacyr Concesiones Colombia, Acciona Concesiones and CAF Investment Projects.

Some 70% finance for the project is to come from the government of Colombia, with the remainder to be contributed by the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Latin American development bank CAF.

Bidding will start on 29 September and a winner will be chosen in March.

The client’s adviser for the project will be the Sustainable Urban Mobility consortium, which includes Garrigues Colombia, Brigard & Urrutia Abogados, KPMG, BONUS Investment Banking, Systra, and Ingetec Ingeniería y Diseños.