Panama City, Panama, February 18, 2014 – The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) reports that despite efforts to agree with Grupo Unidos por el Canal, S.A. (GUPC) to resume work on the new locks project, positions between the parties remain apart.
The ACP considered this week critical to make a decision in order for the construction to restart as soon as possible. This was informed to the contractor’s representatives.
Today, the ACP and the CEO of the companies comprising GUPC (Sacyr Vallehermoso, S.A (Spain), Impregilo, S.p.A. (Italy), Jan de Nul Group (Belgium) and Constructora Urbana, S.A. (CUSA) (Panama)) held a telephone conference call where they reviewed main points such as delivery times for the gates and how the remainder of the project is to be completed. Since not all the points were evaluated, the parties agreed to resume talks Wednesday morning.
Although last week the parties seem to have come to an agreement on certain components during the talks, there were serious disagreements at the time of putting it in writing.
The ACP insisted that work on the new locks resumes immediately through its proposal that each party contribute $100 million, while a definite agreement is reached.
About the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
The ACP is the autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating and maintaining the Panama Canal. The operation of the ACP is based on its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. Please refer to the ACP’s website: http://www.pancanal.com/ or follow us on Twitter @thepanamacanal.
