Consortium Locks in Panama Canal Contract

The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) says it has awarded a concession for the expansion of its locks to a consortium that calls itself Grupo Unidos por el Canal. The $3.1bn price proposal by the consortium was by far the lowest offer, at around half of the value of the highest bid of $6.0bn. PCA says it will award the contract in the next few days, says. The consortium, made up of Sacyr Vallehermoso, Impregilo, Jan De Nul and Constructora Urbana, submitted a proposal whose cost falls below the ACP’s allocated threshold price of $3.5bn. Offers from two other consortia came in above the price. One consortium made up of Bechtel International, Taisei Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. offered a $4.2bn price proposal, and the other, made up of ACS, Acciona, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, Hochtief Construction and ICA, offered $6.0bn. To fund the expansion, the PCA has already secured $2.3bn from multilaterals in the form of a 20-year loan package with a 10-year grace period. JBIC contributed $800m, with $500m coming from the EIB, $400m from the IDB and $300m each from the IFC and CAF.