GUPC, the consortium in charge of the Canal expansion, must return $848 million in advances to the Panama Canal Authority.
From the Panama Canal Authority press release:
December 12th, 2018. Contractor of the Design and Construction Contract for the Third Set of Locks of the Panama Canal Expansion Program, Grupo Unidos por el Canal, S.A.
In Costa Rica, the state power company will have to pay $112 million to the contractor of the Chucás hydroelectric project, for "additional expenses that it authorized and then refused to recognize."
In the ruling issued by the International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CICA), to which the company Enel Green Power Costa Rica appealed to resolve a conflict that originated in 2015 due to an almost $148 millionincrease in the Chucás hydroelectric project, which has not yet been completed, it was established that Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) acted with "bad contractual faith".
The Panama Canal Authority has requested a taking the mater to international arbitration in order to nullify the claim that favors Grupo Unidos por el Canal with $233 million.
From a statement issued by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP):
The Panama Canal has requested an international arbitration of the claim by the contractor Grupo Unidos por el Canal SA (GUPCSA) associated with a basalt and concrete mixture used in the construction project for the new locks on the waterway.
Grupo Unidos por el Canal has withdrawn its claim for $586 million for additional costs for the construction of the third set of locks.
"At the moment there are no suits waiting for resolution," said Jorge Luis Quijano, ACP Administrator, who also said that if the construction consortium decided to withdraw from the work, the ACP has the ability to take over management of the extension of Canal.
Meco of Costa Rica sued the Salvadoran government and Fomilenio for $1.3 million related to increased costs in the contract to build a road.
Elsalvador.com reports: "An international arbitration court has ruled in favor of the Salvadoran government and the Millennium Fund of El Salvador (Fomilenio) who the Costa Rican company MECO sued for $ 1.3 million alleging that El Salvador breached the "financial suitability" clause of the contract for construction of section II of the Northern Longitudinal Highway: Metapan-Santa Rosa Guachipilín. The 'financial suitability', that MECO refers to concerns the calculation of the cost increases of the work over time (known as polynomial formula). "The company explained that this formula did not cover the increases in material that might be seen during the course of the execution of the work.
The concessionaire of the route San Jose – Caldera, , Autopistas del Sol, has filed a lawsuit against the state demanding an update of the cost of road construction.
The company is seeking to "rebalance the contract based solely on an update of the amount of the original bid", said Luis Diego Flores, constitutional attorney. The concessionaire maintains that the cost of the works exceeded the figures set out in the original bid for the project.