The tram during a recent test on Av. Las Americas.
The city of Cuenca has agreed to extend the deadline for tram construction by 18 days. The decision was announced Friday afternoon following a series of meetings with tram contractor, ACTN. Mayor Marcelo Cabrera said that the new project deadline is November 1.
Cuenca Mayor Marcelo Cabrera
The extension was granted, according to Cabrera, as a result of a legal challenge by a property owner of tram right-of-way in the Milchichig neighborhood in northeast Cuenca. “The legal process prevented the installation of a retaining wall and several hundred meters of train track,” he said. “The problem has been resolved but the contractor lost a number of work days as a result.”
City officials added that a ruptured water pipe and a shipping delay of construction materials from Colombia also contributed to the agreement to extend the deadline. ACTN will not be fined for missing today’s original deadline, Cabrera said.
Under terms of the contract, the ACTN consortium, which includes the French manufacturer of the tram rolling stock and track, could have been fined $48,000 a day without the new agreement.
