Martinelli accepting bids for first Metro line, jumps to Metro 2

To some listeners is sounded like an election campaign speech, but the next election is four years away and the speaker won’t be eligible to run.

The speaker was Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli, who, during a ceremony receiving bids for the Metro subway line on Monday August, 30,  asked, the Secretariat of the Metro, to start the work necessary to prepare Metro Line 2 in Panama.

In his speech, Martinelli said Panama needs "a Metro efficient, modern which will givethe user more time for their personal use.

Martinelli said he would like the work completed promptly and told Robert Roy, Executive Secretary of the Metro, that it was necessary to start work immediately to get tenders for the Metro Line 2 (Panama East), before the end of his stay in government.

José Muñoz, president of the National Assembly representative for the area where where it is expected the construction of Metro Line 2 will take place, said he hopes to achieve the tender of that work during the administration of Martinelli.

But Munoz was clear that the construction phase of Metro Line 2 would be for the next government.
The first line is scheduled for completion in 2014, the year the present administration ends its mandate but there are some skeptics who question the target date.