Canal

Contract bidding time set

Bidding on the contract for dredging the Atlantic side of the Canal will be opened in the last quarter of this year, the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) reported.

That work will involve the removal of some 14 million cubic meters of material, according to the ACP.

The dredging contract for the Pacific entrance to the Canal was awarded to the Belgian company Dredging International, one of the leading dredging companies in the world, for a sum of $177,500,676. Dredging International is responsible for removing around 9.1 million cubic meters of material from the ocean floor so that the giant post-Panamax ships can travel to and from the new locks on the Pacific, which have yet to be built.

The ACP also reported that it is making progress in awarding other, less colossal contracts for Canal expansion work.

The Atlantic and Pacific field offices that ACP personnel and project advisors will use during the construction of the third set of locks were 65 percent and 37 percent complete, respectively, as of May 31 of this year.

The Pacific offices in the old town of Cocolí are under construction by Construcciones Ensin, S.A. at a cost of $1,297,918. The H.I. Homa Company is building the offices on the Atlantic across from the fire station in the Gatún area for $979,979.

Work on installing the Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica's (Etesa) new electrical lines on the Pacific side of the Canal, at a safe distance from the area where excavation and other work will be taking place, is 25 percent complete, the ACP reported.