Panama Metro Contract Goes To International Team

An international consortium has won the $1.45-billion contract to construct the first metro train line for Panama City, Panama. The Consorio L�nea Uno consists of Spain’s Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), Brazil’s Odebrecht and France’s Alstom , which will supply the trains for the project. Work is scheduled to start in January.

When completed in 2013, the Metro Line 1 will cover a 14-kilometer north-south route across the Panamanian capital, with a 7-km underground stretch. The trains will be powered by a third-rail source using direct current at 750 volts. According to the Panama City Metro Secretariat, the finished Metro will have the capacity to carry 40,000 passengers an hour.

Consorio L�nea Uno’s bid was $143 million less than the Panamanian government’s projected cost but slightly more than the $1.4-billion offer presented by an Italian consortium, Grupo Italiano Metro Panam�. Panamanian officials awarded the job to Consorio L�nea Uno after evaluating technical merit as well as total cost. A third group that qualified to bid on the work declined to present an offer.

FCC is also part of a consortium that won a key contract with the Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion, which is a $268-million job to excavate 26 million cubic meters of material and connect the massive new locks to the waterway’s main navigation channel.

C.J. Schexnayder is the Editor of ENR California and ENR Northwest. He has contributed to ENR's coverage of the construction industry for more than a decade. His work has focused on major projects, industry trends and emerging technology. He previously was the South America correspondent for the magazine based in Lima, Peru. During that time, he covered numerous large-scale infrastructure projects across the region including the Third Lane Expansion of the Panama Canal. In addition, CJ has been an award-winning newspaper reporter in Southern California, Texas and Louisiana.

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