The Quito Metro began transporting passengers on January 23, 2023. Carlos Noriega/EL COMERCIO
Doubts and lack of clarity in the information revolve around the Quito Metro insurance. The problems with policies came to light at the beginning of February, when it was announced that the insurance policy would end on the 2nd of that month and that since then, the most important and million-dollar project that has been built in the capital would remain Uninsured.
This even led the company to temporarily suspend the train travel of passengers. On February 7, the Quito Subway indicated that once the administrative issue related to the insurance of municipal assets train travel would resume. And he added that said insurance covers the operation and infrastructure. And the passengers?
EL COMERCIO requested an interview to discuss the issue of safe with the central administration Municipality on February 4, 2023, but the Communications department indicated that the spokesperson for this issue was the Quito Metro Company. However, the head of communication for the municipal company indicated that her spokespersons are technicians and that the issue should be dealt with by the Municipality.
That same day, the Metro responded that the person handling the matter is the Central administration. For six days, this newspaper tried to get an official to clear the doubtsbut until 4:30 p.m. today, February 9, 2023, he did not obtain answer.
However, on the afternoon of this Friday, February 10, the Quito Metro sent a written response in which it stated that “within its insurance program to cover all assets corresponding to rolling stock, civil works, systems and subsystems, it has contracted a civil liability policy to cover possible damages that
may produce to third parties, that is, with coverage to the people who interact with
system facilities and equipment.
He added that the policy in force until February 22, 2023 and that it has coverage on the properties, the
work and operations of the Quito Metro project and includes bodily injuries and property damage within the different induction phases that are carried out with the participation of citizens.
This newspaper requested access to the policy to confirm what was insured by the Metro, but the document was not provided.
The councilors Brith Vaca and Juan Carlos Fiallo assured that this week the Mobility Commission met with the directors of the Metro but they could not access details of the insurance policy and several questions remained unresolved.
They reported that next week, the Metro managers agreed to provide them with the documents and more details of the policy.
The problems with the Quito Metro insurance
The deputy mayor, Brith Vaca, explained that the first insurance contract It was in force until February 2, 2023 and that the new contract was expected to remain in the hands of the operating company.
However, “it turns out that there has been a resolution of Mayor in which it is specified that all insurance issues should be handled by the general Administration”.
It refers to Resolution No. AQ 057 – 2022 that entered into force on December 20, 2022, and whose article 3 says: “the responsibility of hiring of insurance programs (…) will be in charge of the competent bodies of the Government Autonomous Decentralized of the District”, that is to say of the general administration.
Vaca said that this week, members of the Mobility Commission of the Metropolitan Council of Quito met with the directors of the Metro to analyze the situation and agreed to send them all the documentation about the topic.
In addition, they were assured that the Metro has not run out of insurance since they requested a prorogation of 20 days to the insurance they already had while the entire bidding process for the new contract is carried out in public works.
The cost of the Metro insurance extension
This extension has a additional cost for the 20 insured days which, according to the mayor Juan Carlos Fiallo, a member of the Mobility Commission, amounts to USD 300 000.
The extension includes material goods, trains, and subsystemsbut what about the passengers?
Fiallo explains that this information was requested from the Metro, but there was no clear answer. He says that as Commercial Operation It hasn’t officially started yet, probably it wasn’t contemplated.
However, despite the fact that the commercial operation does not start, the trains They are already transferring passengers since January 23 as part of a phase of induction that it was not contemplated and that it is not part of the schedule.
The Metro indicated that 29,088 people have been transported on the trains as part of the phase of dynamic induction.
“The answers that the Metro gave were not the clearest and most forceful. He political fact to make a paraphernalia with the reopening last year does not determine that the operation is complete. I will consult this moment to the management of the Metro to see if the passengers have insurance,” he said.
Insurance for Quito Metro passengers
Edison Yanez, ex-manager of the Subwayexplains that the work belongs to the city and therefore the registration of estate should be done by the administration central.
For that, the Metro must be asked to deliver everything encodedvalued and with plans of maintenance. And that, until now, it hasn’t happened. If the goods are not received, they cannot be insured.
How did you secure it the first time then? “What was done was to increase the contract with the constructor USD 14 million for the company I secured it last year. That’s something that could be done rightfully, but it shows little planning.”
At that time, goods, trains, and the superstructurethat is, the tunnel, the catenary, the subsystems and else.
Until this February 9 there is a public contest in Sercop which says that the estimated date for to award the insurance contract is February 14th.
The new contract -he says- should have insurance for third parties, that is to say for passengers. But for that, the team rolling must be approved by the National Transit Agency, and must have a title enablingwhich according to Yánez, has not yet happened.