The Peruvian government and the consortium Nuevo Metro de Lima, formed by Dragados, Iridium, Impregilo, Global Vía, Cosapi and Ansaldo, signed on Monday April 28th the contract for the construction and operation of Lima's second metro line, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Latin America.

Deputy Transportation Minister Henry Zaira and the representative of Iridium, Juan Santamaria, signed the contract at the Government Palace in the presence of President Ollanta Humala, several ministers and executives from the international consortium.

The total investment will amount to €4.08 billion (US$5.65 billion), and of that total about €3.02 billion (US$4.18 billion) will be contributed by the state and €1.06 billion (US$1.47 billion) by the consortium. Metro de Madrid is advising the winning group for the project.

The concessionaire will be responsible for financing, design, construction, electromechanical equipment, provision of rolling stock, operation and maintenance of the project for a period of 35 years. The scheme involves a 27km east-west metro line with 27 stations and an 8km airport branch with a further eight stations.

The project will improve connection between the east and west parts of the city of Lima. It will connect the districts of Lima (Ate, Santa Anita) with the center of Lima and Callao and will join Metro Line 1 (Villa El Salvador - San Juan de Lurigancho) and Metropolitan Line 1 (Chorrillos - Independence) with north-south routes.

Metro Line 2 is part of a network that integrates five lines: Line 1, now operational, and three other lines still in the process of being implemented.

The members of the Nuevo Metro de Lima consortium have extensive experience and prestigious international references in the design, construction and operation of underground railways. They currently manage over 100 transport concessions worldwide and have built over 3,650 kilometres of tunnel, including 800 kilometres with tunnel-boring machines (TBM). Some members of the consortium are experts in railway equipment and signalling and in manufacturing rolling stock.

Their principal references include the subways of New York, Toronto, Panama, London, Copenhagen, Rome, Milan, Buenos Aires, Riyadh and Doha. In Spain, they have built underground railways in Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Bilbao and Valencia.