Metro project is progressing well

PANAMA. The metro project that could become the biggest achievement of the Ricardo Martinelli administration is progressing according to plan, says Metro Secretary, Roberto Roy.

“Currently the project is in the planning phase and we are estimating the costs and the technical viability. We are also doing the soil, and topographic studies and determining how much money we will have to pay to proprietors of the land affected by the metro,” said Roy.

It is unknown how much the metro is going to cost, because it will depend on the design.

The secretary said that metro would be a mixture of tunnels, ground level and aerial structures, which will follow the terrain.

“Initially we have planned a series of routes that will create a network able to transport a great amount of people in the metropolitan area. It expected that between 220,000 and 250,000 passengers would use the metro everyday, and this is just a conservative estimate,” said Roy.

The metro would have day and night schedules, but at the beginning would not operate 24 hours. The trains are going to have between three to six carriages that would be able to transport around 100 passengers each.

There will be two rails with trains traveling in opposite directions. In certain parts where elevated sectors are considered, special designs and materials will be put in place to minimize noise and at the same type blend in with the environment. The money to finance the metro will come from the private sector, the government and from international organizations.

Panamanian technical experts have visited metros in other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Germany to see their designs, how they operate, but the one in Panama will have a unique design.

Roy said that the construction of the metro will start in 2010, with the first route open in 2014 and will be fully operational in 2015.

The metro department said that 90 percent of the routes have already being decided, but to avoid panic, they are going to be announced at a later date.

A Japanese commercial mission visited the government to express their interest in the metro and to give some advise.

Roy said that the construction of the metro is essential to make a proper reorganization of the transport system, in which passengers can travel in comfort, safety and arrive to their destinations on time.