Slim-led Group Bids
Lowest in Panama Canal
Contract
PANAMA CITY,
(Reuters) - A consortium
led by Mexican
billionaire tycoon
Carlos Slim posted the
cheapest bid on
Wednesday to win the
latest small contract to
expand the Panama Canal,
part of the wider
us$5.25 billion project.
The consortium beat out
competitors from
Colombia and the United
States, as well as
Mexican construction
firm ICA, with a bid of
us$25.5 million for the
excavation of 7.5
million cubic meters of
earth, the Panama Canal
Authority said.
The awarding of the
contract to the
consortium -- called
Consorcio Cilsa Minera
Maria and registered in
Panama and Mexico --
depends on its paperwork
being in order. There
were seven other
bidders.
The contract is the
second, and one of the
smallest, of five
dredging contracts that
the Panama Canal
Authority has planned in
its effort to double the
capacity of the canal by
2014.
It is the first contract
won by one of Slim's
firms, which have also
expressed interest in
bigger projects yet to
be awarded, including
the construction of a
third set of locks.
The canal's
administrator, Alberto
Aleman Zubieta, said on
Wednesday that firms
have until Thursday to
submit paperwork if they
want to take part in
that project, estimated
to be worth more that
us$2 billion.
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