Four Consortiums Compete
To Build New Panama
Canal Ship Locks
Panama will take bids
from four international
consortiums seeking to
build new, larger ship
locks for the Panama
Canal, government
officials said Friday.
The locks are a key part
of the us$5.25
billion-dollar canal
expansion project begun
in September, aimed at
doubling the capacity of
the 50-mile
(80-kilometer) canal
connecting two oceans.
Panamanian officials
hope the project will be
finished by 2014.
The four consortiums now
have until August 2008
to present final
proposals and price tags
to compete for the
contract, said Alberto
Aleman, head of the
Panama Canal Authority.
The bidders are:
- The CANAL consortium,
which includes the
Spanish companies ACS
Servicios, Acciona
Infraestructuras and
Sner Engineering of
Spain, as well as the
Germany-based Hochtief
Construction, ICA of
Mexico and Royal
Haskoning of the
Netherlands.
- Atlantic-Pacific of
Panama, which includes
Bouygues Construction,
VINCI Construction and
Alstom of France,
Bilfinger Berger of
Germany, the US-based
AECOM, and four
Brazilian companies.
- A consortium that
includes the US-based
Bechtel, and Taisei and
Mitsubishi corporations
of Japan.
- The fourth group,
"United Group for the
Canal," includes
Panama's Constructora
Urbana, US-based
companies Tetra Tech,
Montgomery Watson Harza
and Heerema Group, and
companies from the
Netherlands, Italy,
Spain and Belgium.
The canal was built
1904-1914 by the United
States, which handed
control over to Panama
in December 1999.
The largest ships that
now use the canal carry
up to 5,000 containers,
but after the expansion
supertankers and ships
carrying as many as
12,000 containers will
be able to sail the
canal.
Some 14,000 ships,
comprising about five
percent of annual world
commerce, pass through
the Central American
shortcut between the
Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, avoiding the
arduous and costly
journey around Cape
Horn, at the southern
tip of South America.
About 80 percent of
Panama's economy is
linked to canal
activity, amounting to
some six billion
dollars, or 80 percent
of Panama's gross
domestic product.
The waterway's main
users are the United
States, China and Japan.
The government says work
would be financed by a
hike in tolls, worth
us$1.2 billion dollars
in 2005. |
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