Road transport

Transcaribe S.A. is a public entity created in 2001 by the Municipality of Cartagena to structure and lead the design, planning, construction and management of the Integrated Mass Transport System ("SITM") in the City of Cartagena. This involves building all infrastructure needed to operationalize the Integrated Mass Transport System (SITM). The project takes inspiration from similar initiatives that have been successfully introduced across the country like the TransMilenio system in Bogota, the MIO system in Cali and Metroplus in Medellin. Prior to the system becoming operational, Transcaribe`s role and responsibility involves carrying out all studies and obtaining the necessary licenses and permits for the project, clearing all public areas and roads, including the resettlement of affected persons, and building the necessary infrastructure, such as dedicated trunk lanes, main bus terminal and transfer stations, etc,, required to enable the SITM to operate. Phase I activities began in 2002 and were subject to World Bank (WB) financing in 2009 under Loan BIRF 7739-CO. To date, 97.8% of the infrastructure has been built and 98% of the resettlement process has been completed. The main bus terminal, including the administration and maintenance areas are presently being built. The bus transfer stations along the trunk line will need to undergo minor repair given that they were built more than 5 years ago, but were left unused due to lack of funding which delayed completion of the project. In early 2014, Transcaribe launched a competitive bid process to grant the transportation concession (otherwise known as "Operations & Maintenance" or "Phase II") to three operators covering 100% of the city`s existing public transport demand. The contracts assign the day to day management of operations to the Concessionaires. This includes the hiring of drivers and other operational personnel (50% of which must be operators of the existing system), the acquisition of new buses, scrapping of old buses, operating and maintaining the fleet and managing the bus workshop. On August 6th, 2014 Concession No. 1 was awarded to Sotramac S.A.S, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) whose main shareholder is Si 99 S.A., subsidiary of Grupo Si. On October 14, 2014 Concession No. 3 was awarded to Transambiental S.A. ("Transambiental" or "the Client" herein). Transambiental is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created for this contract. Its main shareholders are T-Caribe Holdings (63%) and Organizacin SUMA S.A.S.37%, a subsidiary of Grupo Si, the operational sponsor of Concession No. 1. Grupo Si, through Si 99 S.A. and subsequently Si 03 S.A., specializes in developing integrated mass transit systems in Colombia and around the world. The Group currently has 5 active bus fleet operations linked either to bus rapid transit (BRT) or SITM (Bogota, Cali and Lima); and is the lead in structuring public transport systems in 3 cities in Central America (Tijuana, Guadalajara and San Salvador). Concessions No. 1 and No. 3 will therefore benefit from the expertise and know-how of Grupo Si. Concession No. 2 did not attract any bidders so the government awarded the contract to Transcaribe as operator. All three concessions are similar in size in terms of the number of buses and routes they must manage. Once operational, the system will comprise 2 trunk line routes, 8 pre-trunk routes, 14 feeder routes, 16 auxiliary routes and 16 suburban routes, including 658 new buses, replacing a total of 1,500 buses currently in operation. All buses will run on compressed natural gas (CNG), will be air conditioned, stop at dedicated bus stations, run on strict timetables, will be handicap accessible and equipped with smart card fare collection systems, will be equipped with emergency response and preparedness systems, and have emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) to boost safety and response times. The SITM is expected to start operations by the last quarter of 2015, and will be fully operational after a gradual implementation period of 36 months. Each concession will last for 19 years and 5 months or until the Concessionaires have obtained the expected revenue proposed in the bid, whichever occurs first. Concession contract No. SA-MC-007-2014, requires Transambiental to operate the mass transit system Cartagena de Indias from a main bus terminal (15 ha) located in an urbanized area in the north of the city, starting in November, 2015. Other obligations include: (i) providing the system with a predetermined number and type of vehicles (buses of 90 and 50 passengers) in different stages of the concession contract; (ii) operating the required fleet under specific standards, using CNG, and; (iii) buying and scrapping a predetermined number of buses as required in the contract. The total project cost for Concession No. 3 is estimated to be US$109.6 million. The proposed IFC-led financing package for US$72 million includes a US$24 million A Loan for IFC`s own account. The remainder of the project will be financed with parallel lenders and local/international commercial banks. The SITM is expected to have a transformative impact on the city of Cartagena, in addition to contributing to a significant reduction of carbon-related emissions. The benefits arise from: (i) the optimization and rationalization of transit routes and services, (ii) the provision of competitively priced, safe, fast and reliable transportation across the city; (iii) a higher vehicle occupation in tran

Colombia