The government of Panama is renegotiating contracts to build a prison and several hospitals, and canceling the projects for an asphalt plant, the City of Arts and the Convention Center in Amador.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of Panama:
Cabinet Council defines the future of public projects at risk
The Cabinet Council has defined the future of those public works projects designated as at risk by presenting construction needs that were unclear or whose terms of execution could be disadvantageous to the state.
The Tourism Authority of Panama has announced that it will terminate the contract with the consortium HPC-Contrata-P & V and that there are three companies interested in finishing the work in Amador.
As previously announced, the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) began the process of changing the contractor to finish the work of the Convention Center in Amador, and the three companies showing interest are the Asian company China Engineering, the Brazilian company Norberto Odebrecht and the Mexican institution Ica.
Construction is semi-paralyzed while Social Security Department tries to amend the initial contract of $587 million due to cost overruns, delays and technical problems.
At present, the project is 30% complete, and it has been estimated that the work will have a cost overrun of $300 million since the initial contract with the Spanish FCC only covered 25% of the required equipment.
Currently being contemplated is the possibility of canceling the contract for the construction and management of the airport, awarded in January, and putting out a new tender for the procedure.
Due to the fact that airport safety in the country is now the responsibility of the government, the Commission for the Promotion of Public Private Partnerships (Coalianza) has announced that they are studying the possibility of canceling the contract which was awarded to Saisa, which included the management of security, and instead launching a new tender which would remove the issue of security from the contract.
Irregularities in recruitment have led to the cancellation of 42 construction contracts that have already been awarded which total $192 million.
The new Minster of Housing, Alejandro Sinibalidi, referred at a press conference to the prevailing administrative disorder and lack of control of debt.
The new authorities will evaluate each of the works to revive the reconstruction plan.