Legislative initiative opens the door for the construction of a railway in Guatemala
The Ministry of Economy presented on February 13 of this year in the Congress of the Republic a bill that opens the doors to the construction of a railway in Guatemala, which would be built in the metropolitan area to solve, in part, traffic congestion and problems of collective transport.
The proposed legislation is called the Regulatory Law for the Use of Subsoil for Underground Transportation and was done thinking mainly in the construction of “a metro in the metropolitan area,” said Acisclo Valladares Urruela, the highest authority of Mineco.
The bill seeks to regulate how an infrastructure project can be carried out in the subsoil and to establish the appropriate legal framework for carrying out such infrastructure works. In addition, ensure respect for the rights of people living on the surface of the earth’s crust.
Due to the high costs involved in the construction of a metro, the work must be done through a public-private partnership and for this there is already an institutional framework: the National Agency of Alliances for the Development of Economic Infrastructure (Anadie, by its acronyms in Spanish).
At the moment, there is no date or estimated cost for the beginning of the project, since the Initiative of Law will have to be discussed and approved previously in the Congress of the Republic.
José Rosales Cano
Senior Associate
García & Bodán
Guatemala