US$67 million approved for public transport in Guayaquil

A US$67 million loan for the Republic of Ecuador was today approved by the CXI Board meeting of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) in Caracas. The operation will finance the Guayaquil Public Transport Plan to be executed by the City Council.

The CAF executive president, Enrique García, stressed the importance of this contribution to the efforts of the Guayaquil City Council to solve the problem of urban transport, which has a negative impact on the quality of life in the city.

García said the multilateral lender is offering financial backing for the ongoing plan to improve the level of service and availability of urban transport in the city. The project favors 85% of the city’s inhabitants who have no access to private transport.

The development of an efficient public transport system is an attempt to cut the travel time of the 140,000 passengers who use the system every day, by introducing exclusive lanes, level loading and unloading, and reliable timetables and frequencies which allow users to plan their travel efficiently.

The Transport Plan is expected to reduce the operating costs of buses which will travel at constant speeds with designated stops and use their capacity more efficiently. The Plan will also cut the transport costs of users who now have to change buses two or three times to reach their destination; decrease traffic accidents and pollution, and strengthen and modernize bus fleets.

The Guayaquil Public Transport Plan, which is very similar to the Bogotá Transmilenio system, involves the building of three highways - with plans to add four more in the future - with exclusive lanes, integrated terminals, designated stops, efficient traffic lights and signposting systems, along with two viaducts that will form part of the network.

Guayaquil has a population of almost two million, which is 16% of the total population of the country. Rapid population growth in the last ten years has generated a massive urban concentration and made the existing physical infrastructure inadequate for the development of the new economic activities needed by a city in constant expansion.

The City Council began executing an upgrading plan for urban road infrastructure to reduce traffic congestion in 1992. Since 1997 when the CAF financing began, the program has received loans totaling US$184 million consisting of US$70 million for phase I, and US$57 million each for phases II and III. According to the CAF president, the success of these loan operations has had a notable effect on the city’s road infrastructure.