Mexico City pushes back date to award cable car contract

Mexico City’s transport authority ORT has pushed back the date to reveal the winner of the construction contract for the first line of its cable car system, Cablebús.

The decision was announced at a ceremony Thursday, in which the winner was supposed to be unveiled.

At the ceremony, transport authority head Pavel Sosa said the delay comes at the request of the UN office for project services (UNOPS), which asked for seven additional days “to carry out a thorough evaluation of the offers.”

Winners will now be announced on May 23.

The UN agency provides technical advice to ORT during the tender process.

Three contenders are vying for the contract: a consortium comprised of Austrian firm Doppelmayr and local firm Gami Ingeniería e Instalaciones; Italy’s Leitner and local firm Alfa Proveedores y Contratistas, and another group formed by Arquitectoni-K Inmobiliaria, Constructora Gaype, and Geotecnia Control de Calidad y Construcción.

The first Cablebús line will link the hilly neighborhood of Cuautepec to Indios Verdes, both in the city's northern Gustavo A. Madero district. Construction of the line's six stations is expected to take 18 months.