Unfinished Metro due to open ahead of election

LINE ONE of Panama’s $1.8 billion Metro, although not completely finished, is scheduled to open on April 5, one month before the country goes to the polls.

After three years and two months of work, it was “delivered” Thursday February 28 to the Secretariat of the Panama Metro, with a “docket" of items to be completed.

Contract No. 28-2010, signed on November 26, 2010 between Line One Consortium ( CLU ) and the State (in this case the Secretariat of the Panama Metro ) , clearly indicates that the project should be delivered on the due date: February 28, reports La Prensa.

Unfinished jobs have a period of 180 days for completion , ie,, that by August 27.
The projct is 99 %, complete according to the Minister for Canal Affairs and Executive Secretary of the Metro, Roberto Roy.
The1% of missing work will be handled through a list of exceptions or outstanding issues, which is a standard process in the construction industry.
Among the details to be performed is finished retouching and cobbles, the completion and adjustment of escalators, and the final calibrations arising after testing the rail system.
Apart from the list of pending tasks, work on the Loteria station on Cuba Avenue which in December was only 60 percent complete, and there are badly damaged roadways around the subway construction sites.
According to the secretary of the Metro, the Loteria station was an optional part of the contract and has a longer term, as it was not in the original tender and can be completed over a period of three to four months. The level of advancement of that terminal last December did not exceed 60 %.
Nicolas Real, coordinator of the Road Commission of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA), said this to-do list is just an extension of “unfinished concealed items “to give the company time to finalize the work.

According to Real, the pending list must be delivered first and then deliver the final work, as this will extend the works for several months, however, the procedure has been reversed to deliver the project.
"They have wanted to deliver the work before this government is gone," he said.
He said members of the SPIA and a group of businessmen paid a field visit in the works and was able to observe that there is much to be done. Meanwhile, the user representative to the board of the Transit Authority and Land Transport ( ATTT ) , Lucia Perea , noted that in the city there are many adults and older passengers with reduced mobility need escalators and elevators.
He stressed that in stations San Miguelito and Los Andes installation of escalators is not complete
Another station to be completed is El Carmen, including placement of paving stones on sidewalks
The13.6 km Line one, will run from the Albrook Bus Terminal to Los Andes, in the district of San Miguelito.

Jose Antonio Dominguez, former Minister of Public Works, described the announcement as “political football” and there are many items visibly missing as at Transístmica where roadways have been “derailed " and stairs are unfinished.
Dominguez said “They are making a show” of the substantial delivery of the work , as they seek to have it ready before the end of this administration.
Roy said Metro will begin to repair damaged roads, with the laying of asphalt and the Ministry of Public Works should support the repair.
He added that the culture of Metro must now be strengthened in schools, "we must explain the proper way to use the subway”’ he said.
The 12 stations, trains and their properties will be watched by more than 300 policemen exclusively responsible for Metro security.
Ad campaigns dealing with litter and the non-consumption of food on the subway are already under way.