While pressure grows in Guatemala for the contract with APM Terminals to be annulled, the US company American Ports has expressed interest in operating the port.
Following opposition on the part of Congress to the possibility of approving a bill put forward by the executive branch proposing the granting of a direct concession to APM Terminals, now the Comptroller General of Accounts (CGC) has recommended declaring the contract void and starting a new process.
Actions have been announced by the Comptroller General's Office to declare the contract signed in July 2012 with the Spanish International Container Terminal Quetzal as detrimental.
An article on Lahora.gt reports that "... the Comptroller General of Accounts, Carlos Mencos, confirmed to La Hora that no later than next week, a group of lawyers from the company submitted to the Attorney General's Office, the documentation needed to declare the usufruct contract between the Spanish company Container Terminal Quetzal (TCQ) and EPQ, signed in July 2012 as harmful.
The New State Purchases Law would increase the limit in direct purchases from $3,700 to $9,300
Additionally, the Comptroller General of Accounts is proposing that the direct purchase process should be done with a bidding stage. Carlos Menco, head of the Comptroller's Office, told the Periódico of Guatemala that "the proposal is for a bid to be published on the website for such acquisitions, but the competition should not go through the same terms as a tender."
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