Samuel Moreno, the mayor of Bogotá, pledged today that his city plans to have a 15-mile (24-kilometer) long metro system in operation by 2015—a key component to forming a more integrated public transportation system in a city with over 7 million inhabitants. The estimated cost for the work to be designed by the Spanish consortium Sener-Transporte Metropolitano de Barcelona (TMB) is $2 billion with 70 percent financed by the state and 30 percent by the city.

Plans for the metro system have been in the works since 1999, but were put on hold in 2002 for political and financial issues.

The metro “will define the future of urban development in this city over the next 50 years,” proclaimed Moreno, who has held the mayor’s seat since 2007. Moreno ran for mayor with the promise of a metro system, which he describes as the fastest, safest and least contaminating of all public transportation systems.

The metro system will complement Bogota’s TransMilenio project, which has been hailed as one of the most progressive and successful urban infrastructure projects in Latin America. TransMilenio serves over 1 million persons daily.