ARGENTINA: The federal Transport Secretariat is considering a proposal from a consortium of Iecsa, Ghello and Alstom to build a 15·8 km metro network in the city of Córdoba with private finance. Comprising two routes with tunnels 9 m in diameter excavated with TBMs and running at a depth of 9 m below the surface, the project has been costed at US$1·1bn.
An east-west route with 11 stations would run from Avenida Patria under the Suquía river to reach the city centre, continuing under Olmos and Colón avenues to reach Duarte Quirós. With six stations, the proposed north-south route would run under Maipú and Chacabuco avenues to serve the university campus in the southwest of the city.
This 'well-developed' project has been endorsed by Mayor of Córdoba Daniel Giacomino. 'Córdoba needs it and cannot pay the billions of pesos that this project costs,' he said. The mayor noted that obtaining private finance would, like the project to build the high-speed line to Córdoba from Buenos Aires, depend on the federal government reaching agreement with the Paris Club of lending countries over Argentina's outstanding debt of US$6·3bn (RG 3.07 p125).
