Mayor Claudia Lopez met this Thursday with the British Minister for Exports and Equalities, Mike Freer, and the Deputy Head of Mission for Colombia, Tim Hemmings, with the aim of strengthening ties and exploring new areas of cooperation between Britain and the Colombian capital.
The main reason for the visit, according to the British Minister, was to learn about Bogotá’s current panorama in terms of infrastructure projects in order to recognize opportunities for improvement and possible areas of development that could be boosted by the intervention of British companies.
"I have been struck by the scale and ambition of complex projects such as the Metro and Regiotram, which are currently underway in the city of Bogotá," Freer said.
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The core of the meeting was the progress in multimodal and sustainable mobility, led by the progress in the construction of the two lines of the Bogotá Metro as part of the Climate Action Plan (PAC, as per the acronym in Spanish), which sets out the roadmap towards a carbon-neutral Bogotá and resilient development for the next 30 years, issued by Mayor López’s administration.
Among the elements highlighted at the meeting were the planning of the Regiotram, green corridors, bicycle lanes, and the adoption of zero-emission vehicles for the integrated public bus system.
All these efforts are geared towards the fulfillment of Bogotá's four-year Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Before the delegation, Mayor Claudia Lopez expressed her interest in continuing to work together to develop large-scale infrastructure projects in the city with the support of British companies in Colombia.
"Our relationship with the UK has been quite extensive and strong, we are glad that they are also interested in our inclusion and sustainable development initiatives," she commented.
In the morning, Minister Freer also visited the San Rafael reservoir, where he met with a team from the Secretariats of Mobility and Planning, Empresa Metro, and the Aqueduct and Drainage Company of Bogotá. This meeting allowed the British delegates to learn about the large-scale project at the Canoas Treatment Plant, which will make the decontamination of the Bogotá River a reality.
During her speech, the manager of Aqueduct and Drainage Company of Bogotá Bogotá, Cristina Arango, explained the entity’s work an all-round manager of water resources through activities that include the conservation of the water system and the collection of surface water, as well as water treatment and distribution -a service that is able to sustainably serve more than 10 million people in Bogotá and surrounding areas.
For his part, the executive manager of the first line of the Bogotá Metro, Jorge Mario Tobón, presented the main sectoral challenges and the progress in the construction of this project that will improve the quality of life of the people of Bogotá and promote a new civic culture.
"We are aware of the UK's vast experience in railway projects and that is why we are interested in their participation," the official stressed.
At the end of the day, the Chief of Mission, Tim Hennings, highlighted an invitation to maintain international ties with a view to extending efforts towards future joint projects. "Because of how much our regions have in common this collaboration is perfect and just what we need more of," he stressed.
