The National Environmental Licenses Authority officially filed the license process for the Regiotram of the West and, Although this in other projects would mean a setback, this time it is different and even an advance, since it is part of the measures of decree 510 of April 24, 2024, issued by the Ministry of the Environment.
This document indicates that mobility projects that use propulsion with electricity or any other means of low greenhouse gas emissions will not require an environmental license but rather control and environmental monitoring while they are under construction and, in addition, it will be the responsibility of regional authorities and CAR.
”Included are those projects that connect to mass transportation in urban centers and that run along existing rail corridors. It allows us to replace transportation that uses gasoline by electric transport, the environmental requirement is made more flexible and an instrument is generated that is the Environmental Management Guides”, said at the time the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhammad.
This relaxation of the requirements arose from the requests that in a meeting with President Gustavo Petro on February 27, made the governor of Cundinamarca, Jorge Emilio Rey, and the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galan.
It will also apply both to Regiotram and to other projects in Antioquia and Valle del Cauca that meet these conditions.
What follows now for Regiotram is to expedite the pending procedures, since the project should only have tree planting permits with the Bogotá Environment Secretariat and riverbed occupations with the CAR of Cundinamarca.
Governor Jorge Emilio Rey had mentioned last week that The project is 27% complete and work on the railway corridor should begin in three months. The Regiotram project seeks to improve mobility and reduce travel time between Bogotá and municipalities such as Facatativá, Madrid, Mosquera, and Funza.
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