Skip to main content

Latin America ‘needs major investment in mass transit’

Latin America needs to invest heavily in mass transport services to improve living standards in urban areas, according to Norman Anderson, CEO of US-based consulting firm CG/LA Infrastructure. "Unless there is mobility, it's hard to imagine cities being successful, cities being creative, so one of the things we emphasised, and we think is really important, is the whole mobility issue," Anderson said in an interview. In its most recent report on strategic infrastructure projects in Latin America, CG/L
June 10, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Latin America needs to invest heavily in mass transport services to improve living standards in urban areas, according to Norman Anderson, CEO of US-based consulting firm 7796 CG/LA Infrastructure.

"Unless there is mobility, it's hard to imagine cities being successful, cities being creative, so one of the things we emphasised, and we think is really important, is the whole mobility issue," Anderson said in an interview.

In its most recent report on strategic infrastructure projects in Latin America, CG/LA put three metro projects among the top 10. They are Bogota's US$3.6 billion metro project, Panama City's US$2.8 billion line 3, and Metro de Quito's US$1.5 billion second phase.

"Those are three cities that are desperate for mobility because they have horrible traffic issues," Anderson said, ahead of CG/LA's infrastructure conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

According to the 5982 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin American countries are expected to invest some US$40 billion in metro projects by 2025.

Some other key projects in the region are the construction of line 3 and line 6 for Chilean capital Santiago's subway, the expansion of Brazil's São Paulo metro line 2, the expansion of Argentina's Buenos Aires line H, and the expansion of Mexico City's line 12.

In a recent report, CG/LA identified strategic urban mass transit projects worth US$14.1 billion.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Impact of US economic stimulus programme on ITS industry
    August 2, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on the public sector perspective in this second article exploring the impact of the US economic stimulus programme on the domestic ITS industry The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted in February 2009 to help stimulate the US economy in the face of global recession. Of measures worth a nominal total of $787 billion, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) received just over $48 billion with which to promote short-term economic recovery and an additional $1.5 bil
  • Call for a new vision for ITS in America
    February 1, 2012
    An ITIF report published at the beginning of this year stated that America is falling behind other developed nations in terms of ITS technologies and their deployment to address safety, congestion and environmental challenges. The report asked for a stronger commitment from the US federal government (see 'Just crawling along', interview with senior ITIF analyst Stephen Ezell, ITS International March-April 2010, pp.NA1-NA2) in order to address what it sees as increasing disparities with other countries. The
  • Call for a new vision for ITS in America
    February 6, 2012
    Pete Goldin talks to Dr. Joseph Sussman, Chairman of the ITS Program Advisory Committee, about the state of intelligent transport systems in America
  • Lagos to get mass transit system
    February 5, 2013
    Lagos, Nigeria, is about to get a mass transit system with a difference, which the manufacturer says will play its part in reducing congestion and air pollution in the city. For the first time in the country’s history of Nigeria, a cable car company, Ropeways Transport, is set to launch a cable car mass urban transit system in the nation’s commercial capital. Under the terms of a thirty-year franchise agreement between Ropeways Transport, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and the Lag