PANAMA’S Metro Line 2  is  85%\complete as the reigning administration pushes for  it to be at  least partially  operational in time for the upcoming  World Youth  Day (Jan 22- 25 ) to  bolster  the credibility  of President  Varela’s  lobbying to bring  the predicted 400,000 predicted  pilgrims to Panama  in spite of concerns about the ability  to cope of a  small population country with  massively overloaded highways.

The completion date is also linked to Panama’s upcoming elections, with Varela’s  Panamenista Party facing a potentially tough struggle to retain its role National Assembly and hold on to the presidency.

If history repeats  itself,  Line 2 of the Panama Metro could be inaugurated just before the general elections of May 2019, the same strategy  used by  former president Ricardo Martinelli, a few days before the 2014 elections  in  a failed attempt  to tilt voters in favor of his CD party and its presidential candidate Domingo Arias

The cost of Line 1  was $2,139 billion and  Line 2  $1,857 billion with potential add-ons.

The common denominator in both scenarios is  Metro boss Roberto Roy who along with other transit specialists recognized that the user rate of 35 cents following the “free ride” honeymoon before the election did not cover the maintenance and operation of the system.  The rate was set by Martinelli after losing the election and before he fled into self-imposed exile.

The move was seen by many as a malicious move in the face of the “obvious need” of the Varela government to increase it later.

However, the Varela government postponed the issue and introduced an annual subsidy which has cost the State some $ 120 million in the last three years says data recently published by La Prensa and La Estrella.

Pricing conundrum
Meanwhile,  as completion of Line 2 nears, and the election looms, the government faces the conundrum  of  pricing on both lines  with the possibility of a fare-integrated  with the Mi Bus system

"We will give an exact answer shortly," Roy La Estrella. de Panamá.

Up to August this year, there were   7,746,854 trips from north to south of the city. The greatest demand for the railway is on weekdays, with an average of 281,305  daily users in the period analyzed.

It is estimated that Line 2 will benefit 500,000 people in San Miguelito and the East Panama area.

The Panama Metro requested a budget of $ 648.8 million for the fiscal year 2019, including  $587 million for finishing Line 2, additions to Line 1  and the start of Line 3 to  Panama West.

The first two lines were built by a consortium formed by Brazil's Odebrecht and Spain's FCC.