Ecuador's Quito City Council has awarded a $1.5bn contract to a consortium of Spain's Acciona Infrastructure and Brazil's Construtora Norberto Odebrecht to build the second phase of Quito Metro Line 1.

Scope of work under the contract will include the construction of a 22km-long tunnel, 13 new stations, carriage sheds and workshops, and railway facilities required for commissioning.

Formed in equal parts by Acciona and Odebrecht, the consortium won the contract as it submitted the lowest-priced bid.

"The new metro line is intended to ease traffic congestion in Quito and its suburbs and improve the efficiency of public transport."

According to Acciona, rolling stock was not included within the scope of the contract.

However, equipment and system integration, as well as commissioning, will be coordinated between the contractor and the supplier of the rolling stock.

The first phase of the project, which covers construction of La Magdalena and El Labrador stations, was awarded in 2012 to Acciona, which has already completed the civil works for these stations.

Last May, Quito Metro started tendering for a contract to supply 18 six-car trains and four maintenance vehicles.

The first Quito metro line will run from the Quitumbe bus terminal in the city's south to El Labrador station in the north, developed on the site of an old airport.

Work under the deal is expected to be completed in three years, with an additional six months for systems integration and commissioning.

The metro line will have stations at Quitumbe, Morán Valverde, Solanda, El Calzado, El Recreo, La Magdalena, San Francisco, La Alameda, El Ejido, Universidad Central, La Pradera, La Carolina, Iñaquito, Jipijapa and El Labrador.

The Municipality of Quito and the Ecuadorian Government are providing the majority of the funding for the project, along with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

In December 2012, EIB has provided a €200m loan for the construction of the Quito metro line project.

Expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016, the new metro line is intended to ease traffic congestion in Quito and its suburbs and improve the efficiency of public transport.

Operations on the new line are scheduled to begin in early 2017.