Offer proposed as Panama Canal dispute simmers on

PANAMA CITY- Agence France-Presse

Cranes are seen at the jobsite for the extension work at the Panama Canal.

A consortium working on expanding the Panama Canal proposed Jan. 20 that local authorities co-finance a huge budget shortfall that sparked a bitter dispute threatening the project.

The Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium, led by Spanish builder Sacyr, had warned it would suspend work on the major waterway by Monday unless Panama paid for the $1.6 billion in cost overruns.

But as the deadline passed, GUPC issued a statement saying the “co-financing of unforeseen costs” would enable continuation of work and completion of the project by 2015. This, it added, would “allow for revenues totaling billions of dollars annually for Panama.” 

But canal authorities said there would be no negotiating outside the existing contract. And analysts said GUPC likely underbid to get the job knowing full well it would be short.

Meanwhile, canal administrator Jorge Quijano told AFP that construction was continuing at “low intensity,” much as it had over the past week.

Union and government officials have said less than half the project’s workers were still on the job as of last week.

Quijano also has stressed that construction would go ahead with or without GUPC.

GUPC, which includes Impreglio of Italy, Belgium’s Jan de Nul and Constructora Urbana of Panama, has agreed to negotiate with the canal authority within the contract.

The overall canal upgrade was supposed to cost $5.2 billion, including GUPC’s $3.2 billion contract to build a third set of locks for the century-old canal, which currently welcomes ships that carry up to 5,000 containers.

Already facing delays, the project aims to make the 80-kilometer waterway, which handles five percent of global maritime trade, big enough to handle new cargo ships that can carry 12,000 containers.