Only 2 out of 5 companies invited to present bids for the construction of trains on the first line of the metro actually presented offers to the Office for the Reorganization of Transport (OPRET). Diario Libre reports that a third company-Siemens Railway Transport Division-was present at the public function but only presented a letter stating its interest in participating in the tender for the electromechanical systems that will be up for bid in March, as reported in Hoy newspaper. The two bidding companies are Alstom Transport from France, which was represented by Greg Duquesne and Luis Garcia Recio, and CAF-Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles-from Spain, which was represented by Luis Giralt and Guzman Martin. The bid has reportedly been organized by a Spanish company. The other companies invited to the tender were Ansaldo Breda (Brasil) and Bombardier Transportation (Canada). The results of the tender will be announced within 10 to 15 days.
Diandino Pena, in charge of the construction of the metro, could not tell journalists what price range they were looking at for the subway cars. But he insists the metro will not cost the country more than US$50 million.
The construction has been much criticized, mainly for the improvisations and lack of formal studies. As reported in Hoy, Pena said they would be making corrections as they move along.