Former Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga failed to fulfill key campaign promises ranging from train lines to security equipment, according to specialists and municipal records.
The leader of the conservative Renovación Popular party won the top municipal post in the 2022 elections after pledging major infrastructure and public safety upgrades for the Peruvian capital.
However, multiple flagship proposals remained unexecuted during his administration, including new Metropolitano transit routes, a passenger train to Chosica, interconnected artificial intelligence security cameras and thousands of police motorcycles.
López Aliaga, a prominent businessman and former presidential candidate, is now seeking a second term as mayor of Lima, the metropolis of over ten million residents governed by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima.
Transport Projects Stalled in Capital
Transport management proved to be one of the main vulnerabilities of the city administration. Locomotives and carriages operated by the American company Caltrain until late 2024 remain stored at Parque de la Muralla without progress toward active service.
While López Aliaga originally promised a train running from Chosica to the port city of Callao, the project acquired by his administration only covered the stretch between central Lima and Chosica.
Urban sociologist Diana Torres Obregón, a researcher at the Urbes Lab center, said the administration lacked the institutional capacity and budget to execute a railway project of that scale. She noted that city officials failed to understand the basic technical requirements before obtaining the rolling stock.
Torres Obregón added that a functioning railway requires adequate track infrastructure, stations, proper signaling, level crossing safety, an operating company and long-term financial backing. She said the Ministry of Transport and Communications correctly raised objections to the plan because no proper technical planning existed before the carriages were acquired.
Metropolitano System Lacks Buses and Integration
Promised extensions of the Metropolitano bus rapid transit system faced legal and jurisdictional hurdles from their inception. Jurisdiction over the network rests with the Urban Transport Authority for Lima and Callao, a specialized body under the national transport ministry, rather than the city municipality.
As of September, several stations on the northern expansion of the network remained closed to the public, while proposed expansions toward the southern Panamericana highway and Plaza San Miguel remained in the planning stage.
Torres Obregón stated that the city administration used popular frustration over transit queues exceeding one hour in northern Lima to build political support through unfeasible promises. She explained that the 17 stations built in northern Lima could not open fully because of a shortage of buses and unresolved contractual issues.
She also emphasized that Lima transit remains fragmented, with Metro Line 1 and the Metropolitano using separate payment cards. She noted that passenger railways require substantial ongoing subsidies, pointing to the nearby port of Chancay as an area where regional commuter rail demand should be evaluated carefully.
Security Camera and Motorcycle Pledges Fall Short
Public safety was another central pledge during the 2022 mayoral campaign, but final delivery fell significantly short of initial announcements.
López Aliaga initially pledged to install 12,000 artificial intelligence cameras with facial recognition technology across Metropolitan Lima. By late 2023, the municipality had installed just over 4,000 cameras, setting a revised target of 8,000 units, with no public evidence showing the original target of 12,000 was ever reached.
A campaign promise to rent 10,000 security motorcycles for law enforcement suffered similar reductions. City officials lowered the target to 4,000 vehicles for 2024, and by August of that year, the city had delivered only 1,000 motorcycles to local municipal patrol officers and 800 to the National Police of Peru.
Political scientist Benjamín Durand, a security specialist, said high profile campaign announcements often serve a purely political purpose without technical backing. He noted that political parties frequently treat official government plans as administrative paperwork needed to register candidates rather than detailed operational strategies.
Durand pointed out that a portion of the 4,000 acquired motorcycles remained unused in storage facilities, representing an administrative failure. He added that surveillance cameras were not consistently placed in high crime areas, reducing their disincentive effect against criminal activity.
Unfulfilled Water Tanks and Cable Car Initiatives
Other social and infrastructure initiatives announced for hillside neighborhoods also failed to materialize. Promises to install 30,000-sol water tanks and 10,000-sol water pumps on steep slopes were never carried out.
A subsequent pledge to deploy 10,000 fog catchers to collect atmospheric moisture in impoverished areas yielded no formal work plans or monitoring reports. The few fog catching structures inaugurated in 2023 were built and funded by civil society organizations, including the non-governmental group Peruanos Sin Agua, rather than municipal funds.
Aerial cable car projects designed to connect northern Lima districts were officially scrapped. In March 2025, the transport authority declared proposed routes connecting San Juan de Lurigancho with Independencia, as well as a line in El Agustino, technically unviable.
The cable car proposals had been inherited from previous city administrations, including that of former mayor Jorge Muñoz. Technical evaluations cited route overlaps with the planned peripheral ring road project, high cost overruns and interference with the Los Barbones military barracks, a designated national heritage site where three support towers were slated for construction.
Mixed Results on Public Space Development
The administration achieved mixed outcomes in its public space recovery program. Official data logged in the public works monitoring system Infobras showed the successful construction and renovation of several urban parks, including Mateo Pumacahua in San Juan de Lurigancho, Ignacio Cossio in La Victoria and Alameda Unión in Manchay.
However, clearance works for the Vía Expresa Sur highway project generated widespread controversy in the Surco and Barranco districts. Municipal crews demolished existing parks and sports facilities, including Pléyades Park, without prior technical files.
The demolitions provoked strong protests from local residents and drew formal opposition from then-Surco Mayor Carlos Bruce, a prominent political rival of López Aliaga.
Alejandro Mejía, a political scientist and professor at the National University of San Marcos, said López Aliaga managed the city municipality as if it were a private corporation. He explained that public administration requires securing budget lines, respecting legal timelines and preparing formal technical files before executing works.
Mejía added that constant confrontation with external institutions highlighted an authoritarian management style incapable of building political consensus. He concluded that successful city governance requires qualified technocrats and strategic leaders who delegate decisions based on competence rather than political loyalty.
