Medellin’s ‘French Connection’ Key to New Electric Tram Systems
Medellin’s investment promotion agency ACI (Agencia de Cooperacion e Inversion de Medellin y el Area Metropolitana) on October 20 touted the city’s French connection for a just-launched, road-based tram system as well as two new, related aerial trams.
The roadway and aerial tramway systems – financed via a US$250 million credit from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) – are the result of “good relations between Medellin and the government of France,” according to ACI.
The roadway tram (“tranvia” in Spanish) is now running through the historic Ayacucho district of Medellin, while the two new aerial tramways (Metrocable) – which connect to the roadway tram – are being completed in two eastern mountainside neighborhoods: Trece de Noviembre y La Sierra.
The integrated system will benefit some 350,000 residents of the “comuna 8, 9 and 10” neighborhoods – including Villa Hermosa, La Candelaria and Buenos Aires, all in eastern Medellin, according to ACI.
The tram-system financing represents the first time that a multilateral lending agency has approved such a loan without requiring Colombia government sovereign guarantees, ACI boasted.
Colombia President Juan Manual Santos was among the government officials present for the official inauguration this month – and Santos pointed out during a press conference that the Colombian national government didn’t provide a single peso for the project.
“The Ayacucho Tranvia shows the importance of internationalization for development,” ACI added.
The new tramways also enable connections to Medellin’s city-wide Metrorail, Metrocable, Metroplús (bus rapid transit) and “EnCicla” (public bicycle) systems, ACI pointed out.
