ACP denies claims by Spanish daily

PANAMA. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has denies declarations by the Spanish daily Cinco Dias, on its online version that the proposals to construct the third set of locks of the Panama Canal exceed by 35 percent the initial budget of $5. 2 billion set out by the ACP.

These affirmations, in the midst of the government transition, have unleashed a polemic in the country.

THE ACP, in a letter to the newspaper said: “the publication was clouding the truth when it said that the tender offers are high, or are 35 percent above initial calculations, considering that they (the offers) are still unknown.”

The Cinco Dias article says that “four of the biggest Spanish construction companies, ACS, FCC, Acciona and Sacyr, are paying close attention to Panama,” because “it is not clear if the expansion project is going to resist the global economic storm.”

The daily also claimed that the companies’ offer would have been 35 percent over the $5.2 billion budget, totaling over $6 billion.

According to the ACP, “the tender offers, submitted on March 3 by the three participating consortiums, were sealed and stored unopened.

In it’s letter to the daily, the canal entity accuses Cinco Dias of ignoring the due diligence in the expansion project’s recruitment process and the thoroughness with which the ACP is carrying it out, adding that the ACP already has the needed resources, including $2.3 billion from international financial institutions.