Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim to Pay for the Reconstruction of Collapsed Mexico City Subway Train Overpass
A month after the tragic subway incident that killed 26 individuals, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim pledged to pay all the costs needed to reconstruct the subway overpass-stretch in Mexico City.
During the Mexican President's daily press briefing on Wednesday, June 30, Lopez Obrador noted that he had a meeting with the Mexican billionaire.
Lopez Obrador said that Carlos Slim assured him that he would "pay for everything" needed in rebuilding Mexico City's Subway Line 12 overpass, KVIA reported.
The Mexican president further noted that Carlos Slim vowed to get it done with all the necessary safety measures at no cost to the Mexican people without asking the government for a budget.
Lopez Obrador said the Mexican billionaire would not wait for the judicial system to finish their investigation before coordinating with Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to rebuild the subway overpass.
The Mexican president noted that Carlos Slim wanted to have the reconstruction soon so that the line would be open and operational once again "in a year."
The Mexican billionaire is the owner of one of the construction companies involved in building the troubled section of the Line 12 subway, The Washington Post reported.
The Mexico City Subway Tragedy
On May 3, dozens of individuals lost their lives when an elevated portion of Line 12 known as the "Golden Line" collapsed in the city of Mexico.
The subway line was considered one of the most expensive public works projects in Mexican history when it was inaugurated in October 2012.
The highly-publicized ribbon-cutting of the subway line was attended by the most powerful names in Mexican politics at the time.
Then-president Felipe Calderón attended the ceremony, and now foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was then in his last days as the mayor of Mexico City. Even Carlos Slim was also there.
Investigations Into Mexico City's Subway Overpass Collapse
Currently, an independent investigation by the Norwegian certification firm DNV is ongoing. The city government hired DNV to study the possible causes of the accident. The local attorney's office is also doing a separate investigation.
Both investigations focused on the causes of the deadly collapse and those involved in the construction project, including Carlos Slim himself.
Based on the investigation's preliminary findings, there's deficient welding of metal studs. The supposed metal studs were apparently not well connected to steel beams that supported a concrete slab and the elevated train rails.
This finding was among several issues that contributed to the accident, in which a span of the elevated line buckled to the ground, dragging down two subway cars to the streets below.
The report on preliminary findings also said that there are missing metal studs in some sections of the structure. Different kinds of concrete were also used for the slab, and there were unfinished or badly welded joints.
The Carlos Slim Foundation and Mexico City officials have yet to comment on Lopez Obrador's statement, CNN reported.
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