Japanese banks back Peru metro line expansion

Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation said they would provide a $396 million loan to bring to financial close a metro expansion project in Lima, Peru.

The Japanese banks are backing the Lima Metro 1 expansion, which allows the concession holder, construction company Grana y Montero, to acquire 59 metro cars and improve five train stations. The project will reduce train frequency from six to three minutes and increase passengers from 320,000 to 500,000 per day.

Procurement for the expansion began in 2008 and ended at the end of 2009 when Peru’s project investment authority ProInversion chose a partnership between GYM and Norberto Odebrecht to construct the project. The 30-year concession agreement is estimated to have cost $549 million.

In 2014, ProInversion awarded the $5.66 billion Metro 2 project to a consortium led by construction firm Dragados.

ProInvesion also said it expects to award the $6.6 billion Metro line 3 expansion by the end of 2018. The line extension is one leg of a plan to build out a metro system to connect suburban areas with the central commercial districts of Lima and Callao in a region with roughly 8 million residents.