Water and sanitation works in Panama, improvements to a seaport and improvements to a bridge are part of the investments planned for the coming months in the region.
The interactive system "Construction in Central America", compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData, includes an up to date list of public and private construction projects that are planned to be built in the coming months.
The new government has announced plans to implement improvement works on the road network of the country in the next three years.
The complete renovation of the road to the port of La Libertad and improvements in neighboring bridges are part of the works estimated at $650 million that the Ministry of Public Works announced will be undertaken in the country.
The contracts are for patching work, supervision, resurfacing of roads and main pathways, and bridge maintenance, among other things, on the national road network.
The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) is inviting bids for 430 road maintenance projects, through the Road Maintenance Fund, in which about $100 million will be invested.
It will connect the cities of La Hachadura and Pedro de Alvarado, an area where 60% of intraregional trade circulates.
From a press release by the Government of Panama:
The binational working table between El Salvador and Guatemala, responsible for Transport and Infrastructure matters, agreed to build a four-lane bridge at the border between Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, Guatemala, and La Hachadura, El Salvador, with the aim of improving commercial traffic between the two countries.
The Ministry of Works and the Agency for International Cooperation of Japan have signed a cooperation agreement for a bridge renovation project.
A press release from the Ministry of Public Works of El Salvador states that:
The Minister of Public Works, Gerson Martinez and Resident Representative of the International Cooperation Agency of Japan (JICA) Yoshikazu Tachihara, today signed a cooperation agreement to develop an " Assistance Project for Economic Infrastructure Renovation in El Salvador."
President Mauricio Funes has already allocated $22 million for the reconstruction of road infrastructure damaged by the storms that have recently affected the country.
The funds, part of a $50 million loan from the Interamerican Development Bank, will be distributed between the reconstruction of bridges and arteries ($ 10.8 million), resurfacing works ($ 6 million) and the rest will go towards meeting other emergencies, focussing on connectivity designed to revive the western department of Sonsonate.
The Ministry of Public Works has announced a program of intensive public works tenders which will run up until December 2011.
A press release from the Ministry of Public Works reads
The total amount to be tendered is approximately $113 million, which will bring enormous benefits to people as sources of direct and indirect employment, as well as strengthening the business sector, providing new infrastructure that will support development, protect life and economic activity.
The Treasury Ministry has earmarked $4 million from the disaster prevention fund (Fopromid) to take care of the damages caused by tropical storm Agatha.
Due to the emergency, the government will conduct direct purchases, without the need for public auctions, in order to attend the situation faster.
“Agricultural damage has not been assessed yet, but Hugo Flores, Agriculture vice minister, quantified them as ‘large’.
The public works ministry will acquire 20 temporary Bailey bridges to replace those damaged by tropical storm Ida.
No bidding will be done for this procedure as the entity will acquire them directly. The technical committee recommended that the fabrication time of the structures should be less than 4 weeks, and the time required to transport them less than 5 weeks.
Of the residences marked for reconstruction, only 20% have been processed, and there has been little progress in repairing damaged bridges, four months after tropical storm Ida.
The reconstruction program comprises building 700 temporary housing units, yet only 152 have been constructed.
43 bridges have to be substituted with temporary or permanent structures, but there has not been any call to bids yet.