Panama 2027 Budget Books US$103 Million for San Miguelito Cable Car
PANAMA · ECONOMY
Key Facts
- —The line item Panama’s 2027 budget assigns US$103.8 million to the San Miguelito cable car, the first of three annual tranches planned at US$133.8 million in 2028 and US$32.3 million in 2029.
- —The contract On September 3, Metro de Panamá awarded the project to Doppelmayr Panamá Corp. for US$255.16 million — below the US$270 million reference price, after a single bid scored 962 of 1,000 points.
- —The system About 6.6 kilometers, six stations from Balboa to Torrijos Carter, linked to Metro Line 2 at Cincuentenario, carrying 2,800 to 3,600 passengers per hour in each direction.
- —The do-over A first tender, structured as a 23-year concession at US$278.7 million, collapsed on May 28, 2026, when neither prequalified consortium submitted a bid.
- —The budget frame The total 2027 budget is US$35.11 billion, presented July 29 by Finance Minister Felipe Chapman with a projected deficit of 2.97% of GDP — just under the 3% legal ceiling.
- —The target Contract execution runs 30 months plus trials; authorities project the cable car could start operating in 2029.
Panama’s 2027 budget books the first US$103.8 million for a cable car over San Miguelito — a project that failed to attract a single bid in May, was redesigned, and has now been awarded to the Alpine cable-car giant Doppelmayr at US$255 million.
San Miguelito is Panama’s second-most-populous district, a dense hillside sprawl north of the capital where hundreds of thousands of commuters lose hours every day on clogged avenues. The government’s answer is now written into the 2027 national budget: US$103.8 million for the Teleférico de San Miguelito, an urban cable car that will run six stations from Balboa to Torrijos Carter and plug the district directly into Metro Line 2.
The allocation sits in the Metro de Panamá investment lines of the US$35.11 billion budget that Finance Minister Felipe Chapman defended before the National Assembly on July 29 — a budget that projects a deficit of 2.97% of GDP, just beneath the 3% ceiling of Panama’s fiscal responsibility law. Panama uses the US dollar, so the figures carry no exchange-rate caveats.
From Failed Tender to Award in Ten Weeks
The budget line is only possible because the project was rescued this summer. The first tender, built as a 23-year administrative concession with a reference price of US$278.7 million, ended in failure on May 28, 2026: the opening act concluded without a single economic or technical proposal. Two consortia had passed prequalification — Consorcio Teleférico SPE, formed by Sofratesa de Panamá and Mexico’s Promotora y Desarrolladora Mexicana de Infraestructura, and Consorcio Teleférico San Miguelito-TSM, pairing Spain’s Cointer Concesiones with Doppelmayr Panamá — but neither could secure the bank backing the concession model demanded, despite ten addenda loosening bond, guarantee and financial-closure requirements.
The state changed the model instead of the project. On July 6 the Metro relaunched the contract as a turnkey, best-value tender with global adjudication at a reference cost of US$270 million — US$8.6 million lower — with the state, not a concessionaire, carrying the financing. Bidders walked the route on July 27 and held their homologation meeting on July 28.
On August 18, Doppelmayr Panamá Corp. — the local arm of the Swiss-Austrian group that built cable-car systems in Bolivia, Mexico and Colombia — submitted the process’s only economic offer: US$255,163,788.03, before the ITBMS transfer tax, which does not apply because of the Metro’s tax exemption. The evaluating commission scored the proposal 962 out of 1,000 points and recommended the award. On September 3, the Metro formally adjudicated the contract — officially Licitación por Mejor Valor No. 2026-2-80-01-08-LV-000002.
What the Money Buys
The specification describes a line of roughly 6.6 kilometers — 6,493.99 meters of referential length — with six stations: Balboa, Cincuentenario, Samaria, Mano de Piedra, Valle de Urracá and Torrijos Carter. Cabins will run at up to six meters per second and carry between 2,800 and 3,600 passengers per hour in each direction. At Cincuentenario, where the control center will monitor vibrations and weather in real time, the cable car interlocks with Metro Line 2, giving San Miguelito a one-transfer ride into the capital’s rail spine.
The rulebook is notably tougher than the one that failed. The operator must sustain 99.0% availability monthly and 99.5% annually; if the line stalls, cabins must be brought to stations within 60 minutes, a vertical evacuation must run within 30, and the emergency motor must restore service in 15 minutes or less. Industrial cybersecurity penetration tests are required before commissioning, followed by a three-month controlled trial period. The contract totals 38 months — 30 of execution, six for punch-list items, two for settlement — with an optional five-year full-service maintenance agreement; if the Metro declines it, Doppelmayr must still leave a spare-parts inventory covering the same period.
The Budget Fight Around It
The three-year payment plan — US$103.8 million in 2027, US$133.8 million in 2028, US$32.3 million in 2029 — lands in a contentious budget season. The Assembly itself is demanding US$796 million more from the finance ministry for 2027, and the Mulino administration is defending its lines against a fiscal backdrop that has already cost Panama dearly: Fitch rates the sovereign at BB, speculative grade, as The Rio Times reported when the deficit fight escalated. A US$255 million aerial line is small change against a US$35.11 billion budget — but visible, discretionary and exactly the kind of project fiscal critics circle while rating agencies watch.
What It Means for Foreigners in Panama
Urban cable cars are Latin America’s proven answer to hillside congestion. Medellín built the template, Cartagena secured US$84 million for its own line in July and Guatemala City broke ground on its AeroMetro in August — the latter also a Doppelmayr project. For expatriates, San Miguelito is not a typical residential choice; most foreigners cluster in Panama City proper, where rents now top the region. But the cable car matters anyway: it unclogs the northern corridor, extends the metro’s reach into the city’s most populous district, and signals that the Mulino government will keep spending on big-ticket mobility despite the fiscal squeeze.
The caveat is the calendar. The award still faces the contract signature and the resolution of rights-of-way along the route, on which the housing ministry Miviot and the Metro are already working. If the 30-month execution and three-month trial hold, authorities project operations could begin in 2029. Panama has heard cable-car dates before — but this time there is a signed-off award, a named builder, and a first US$103.8 million with a budget line number attached.
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