The company responsible for the first line of the Bogotá metro has failed to comply in Uganda: its contracts have been suspended

Archive photo of what the first line of the Bogotá Metro will look like. / Colprensa – Camila Diaz

Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC)one of Chinese companies Which make up the consortium that got the building The first line of the Bogotá metroHe became the focus of public attention in Uganda after the government of that African country announced this He will terminate contracts with that company, after years of broken promises.

Ugandan newspaper Daily monitoring She revealed that a contract had been made with the Chinese company to proceed with the construction of the project Standard Rail (SGR) It would unite Kampala, the capital of Uganda, with Malaba, the Kenyan border city. But after seven years, neither the financing nor the business structure has been finalized.

According to the aforementioned media, and because of the above,… Ugandan Transport Director Benon KaguraHe told the newspaper that “After years of broken promises”The Ugandan government decided Replace the Chinese company with a Turkish company.

“We have signed a contract with a Chinese company in 2016. The condition was that they would finance the project and then build. Seven years later, financing did not arrive. This is what made us move in this direction.”The senior Ugandan official explained to Daily monitoring.

In a conversation with the same mediator, The project's Chief Public Relations Officer, Mr. David MugabeHe attributed the delay in funding the initiative to… No exchange Of the economic amount for Part of the Chinese bank Exim Bank.

Photo of the first car of the Bogotá metro. / Claudia Lopez, Twitter

Due to the Chinese company’s non-compliance, the director of the Ugandan transport company revealed to the aforementioned media that the Ugandan government decided to dispense with the contracts and replace the company with a company. Turkish Yapi Markazi Company.

“The advantage with Yabi is that they are doing the same work in Tanzania; they have good experience in terms of equipment, personnel and manpower, and have worked before in other African countries, including Ethiopia and Zambia, and have agreed to finance the project.” Kagura pointed out. to Daily monitoring.

In a program “Coronel Report” Subordinate Radio WIn fact, journalist Daniel Coronel reported as much This was not the first controversy One of the Chinese consortium companies participated in it, which obtained the concession to build the first line of the Bogotá Metro.

According to Coronel, because of the difficulties he faces Chinese consortium APCA Transmimetro To pay credit – apparently before Import and Export Bank of China– To build a Port in Sri LankaControl of the business ended up in the hands of the Chinese government when it was in charge of local administration.

“This case is one of the clearest examples of China’s ambitious use of loans and cooperation resources to gain influence around the world, as well as its willingness to act unexpectedly when it comes to collecting payments.”Reads a journalistic investigation New York timesaccording to Radio W.

Archive photo of what the Bogotá metro will look like. / Bogotá City Hall.

xian metro company, Another company belonging to the Chinese consortium has not been spared from controversial events either. According to the radio station, the company was involved in a corruption scandal that ended Xi'an Subway, China.

“It all started with an online complaint from an employee of the cable provider company. According to the post, Xi'an Metro was using low-quality cables in construction.reads the station report.

The complaint took on a lot of force Cable Supplier Company Representative, Wang ZhiweiHe was sentenced to life imprisonment, according to Al Radio W.