The Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes has started arbitration proceedings in which Panama could end up paying up to $2.5 billion.
Months ago the U.S. company Transglobal Green Energy (TGGE), called on the Panamanian government to reach an agreement on the cancellation of an award for a hydroelectricity plant which was subsequently awarded to Grupo Ideal owned by Carlos Slim, however, lack of action by the authorities led the company to take further action.
Transglobal Green Energy has summoned the Panamanian government to make an agreement over a hydroelectricity concession which was annulled and then granted to a company belonging to Carlos Slim.
June 24 is the deadline that Transglobal company lawyers have given the Government to settle in an amicable way the case regarding the concession of a hydroelectic station in the Rio Chiriqui Viejo, before going to an arbitration process.
Most of the concessions to build hydroelectric power plants in the rivers of Chiriquí were granted without paying fees, for 50 years.
Sometime later, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim entered the hydroelectricity market in Panama, offering almost $32 million for two of these concessions. This triggered a “hydroelectric fever”, with the creation of a secondary market between concessionaries and interested businessmen.