Efraín Bastidas, manager of the Quito Metro: there is enough time; the operator will not start from scratch

After the delivery of the parameters for the operation and maintenance of the Quito Metro, the administration of the largest and most expensive work in the history of the city ($ 2,049 million) awaits the Terms of Reference (TDR) to launch the tender and hire to the international operator that will take charge of this project, which was launched nine years ago and through which four mayors and nine managers have passed.

according to the mayor Santiago Guarderas, could start during the last quarter of this year. The construction is going against the clock, because it has several systems that are not yet completely remedied. However, in an interview with EL UNIVERSO, the manager of the Metro, Efrain Bastidas, He assures that he has everything under control and that in a few months the trains will begin to receive passengers.

The parameters for the selection of the international company that will come to carry out the operation and maintenance of the Quito Metro have already been delivered. What is the schedule until the end of the year?

I tell you the whole picture. We started with the consortium led by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, which we call the technical structuring agent, two and a half months ago. This company, which is the one that manages the railways in Barcelona (Spain), gave us last Thursday the technical parameters of the railway operation, which includes both what is the operation and maintenance. With these parameters, we already have clarity on how we are going to proceed in the future and in a few weeks we will receive the Terms of Reference (TOR) for contracting the operator. Once we have these TOR, we will do the pre-contractual process, we will receive offers from different interested parties and we will go to the contracting process; we are talking about July or August. From there, we go into operation in the last quarter of 2022.

In the best of cases, the operator would be hired in July, so he would have less than five months to absorb the project, hire personnel, carry out tests and start the Metro. Is that enough time?

You mention it as if they started at that time, but they don’t. We are doing the tests since the beginning of December (2021). By the time it is awarded, we will already have eight months of tests. For personnel education and training, we are talking to universities and polytechnic schools for selection and training processes, especially for operational personnel (station supervisors and train conductors). That training will start in March, approximately. When we make the award (of the international operator), we are going to provide trained personnel and they will select the best. It is not that the tasks are going to be performed by the operator at that time. Of course, this will do some validations, but it will already have documentation and some work done.

But the company will have to carry out its own tests, according to its standards.

You are right, as a company I have to verify that everything is ok. What happens is that the previous steps are very long, but the verification is not. When the company does that, we will have already corrected any errors.

In the presentation of the parameters they announced that there will be 18 expert technicians and that the rest will be hired by the awarded company

The 18 engineers have a high-ranking technical profile. We do not expect to train them until the railway operator comes, but rather to have selected them. Let’s say that a European operator wins and brings in 18 European engineers with 20 to 30 years of experience to command the essential processes of the Metro. So, we are going to hire 18 engineers, to put a twin or mirror for each one, and that, for a little bit, not one minute of them is taken away. That technician of ours will have to absorb all that knowledge over the course of five years. A rather low profile, which corresponds to about 150 or 200 technicians, who are going to be station supervisors and train conductors, will have to be ready when the railway operator arrives.

Shouldn’t the “mirror technicians” be ready and trained?

No, they just need to be selected. They start when the commercial operation starts.

Will the contract with that operator be for five years?

Yes, approximately four to five years is what we envision.

What budget is there for that contract?

It is a bit risky to say at this time and it is also a fact that we prefer to keep in reserve, because we are going to do a selection process.

What happens to what the Quito Metro lacks? For example, the link network with the ECU911 and the emergency communication

Let’s see, it’s not that all those elements don’t exist. In fact, we have tripled that telecommunications system; We (also) have a telephone system and a digital trunked radio network. We already have three types of communication systems. In our command center there are three emergency chairs: one for 911, one for firefighters and one for the National Police. It’s not that these issues are abandoned, we have fully planned link systems from day zero.

It was officially announced that there will be 350 swing doors

All the turnstiles are installed, we are missing the validators, which are more or less like a little machine for charging credit cards. At this moment they are already being searched for in Europe. We are also in software development. All of that is on the way.

In a interview granted to this newspaper last November, you assured that they were already about to buy those validators. Are they still at the same point now?

We already have an agreement, we developed a process for the company CL1 Acciona (the construction company) to initiate the purchase. It takes a few weeks for the acquisition. It also depends on the stock and the transfer time to Ecuador. Finally, the installation will take another few weeks. Specific aspect schedules are complex.

The budget for validators?

We have a global budget of validators. It’s that you’re asking me a specific topic and I don’t want to make a mistake. What I can give you is the perspective, that right now Acciona is asking for quotes and we are looking for automatic vending machines (for tickets) and systems for sale at the box office, in pharmacy networks or QR codes.

Does the Quito Metro continue to cost $2,049 million?

Yes, $2.049 million, so far. It could raise a few million, but not a substantial amount. Few, about a dozen. It is worth saying that, in a normal work, the increase in costs from the signing of the contract to the construction is 40%. The percentage increase in the Quito Metro was 1.5%. It is a world example.

The oversight created by the Citizen Participation Council says that the TDRs for the award of the technical structurer were modified.

Let me clarify that. The process of the technical restructuring is not something that I started, it began in the management of Mauricio Anderson (June 2014 to October 2018), back in the time of Mayor Mauricio Rodas. He gave the order to start this process, because the technical structuring was important to learn how we are going to operate. The technical structure has been approved by all the managers of the Metro, absolutely all of them. This moves with funds from the World Bank and follows the contracting process of the World Bank, which is among the three most transparent entities, with lower rates of corruption and with greater control over processes. In other words, the one who is auditing us is the World Bank, not an oversight body that does not understand and who will know what the interests are. (I)