Construction of New Locks for Panama Canal Expansion Will Begin in 2010

La Estrella – The construction of the third set of locks for the expansion of the Panama Canal will begin in January 2010, said yesterday executive director of the consortium that won the bidding for the project, Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), Antonio Zaffaroni. “We are at the beginning and there are many bureaucratic procedures, presentations that have to be done, and permits to obtain.

The real work starts in January. For now it’s all preparation, removal of animals, cutting trees…” said the official from the GUPC consortium, led by Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso.

Zaffaroni said the first phase of the work will be the excavation, after having established “the facilities to produce concrete, crushed stone, cement and equipment to unload the arriving supplies.” GUPC won the contract to build the third set of locks in mid-July for $3.1 billion dollars. Regarding the concerns raised over the difficulty of getting the job done at that price, Zaffaroni said “at present” there is “nothing alarming.”

“The budget is lower due to better technical skills, because having studied the project well it will cost less because we have optimized transportation cycles and construction methods,” he said.

The international consortium, which also includes the Italian company Impregilo, Belgium’s Jan de Nul and the Panamanian Constructora Urbana (CUSA) has 1,883 days (about five years and 2 months) to complete the work, and time began to count on 25 August 2009.

According to this calculation, if the consortium uses all of the time allowed by the Panama Canal Authority, the work would not be ready for August 15, 2014, when the government wants to inaugurate the new set of locks in time for the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the original canal.

Full story and link can be found at:

http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20091114124236131

Tags: bureaucratic procedures, Canal Expansion, construction methods