Costa Rica-based Constructora Meco, S.A. submitted a $36.7-million bid, the lowest of six offerings submitted for the third of four dry excavation contracts as part of the Panama Canal Third-Lane Expansion Project. Barring a successful protest or reversal based on technicalities, the firm is the apparent winner. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will now review the submissions to determine the lowest-priced bid that meets all of the requirements stated in the request for proposals. The winning bid is expected to be announced before the end of the year. Constructora Meco’s bid is 4% below a $38.2-million bid by Constructora Urbana,
President George W. Bush has appointed C.W. (Bill) Ruth to serve as United States Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission. Ruth, a 25-year-veteran of the agency who retired in 1998, was sworn in and assumed his duties on Nov. 24. The post had been left vacant with the death of the previous commissioner and his Mexican counterpart in a plane crash two months ago. International Boundary and Water Commission deals transboundary issues along the U.S.-Mexico border that include flood control, sanitation, boundary demarcation and mapping. It traces its history back to 1889 although its current incarnation was established
C.J. Schexnayder The Miraflores Lake between the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks, site of dry excavation. The progress on the third-lane expansion project for the Panama Canal accelerated this week as officials announced the request for proposal for a dry excavation element of the work. The current contract up for bid includes the excavation, removal and disposal of 8 million cubic meters of material roughly adjacent to Miraflores Lake on the Pacific side of the canal. The work is the third of four contracts needed to create a 6.7 km link between the existing navigational channel at the entrance to
+ click to enlarge C.J. Schexnayder A ship passes under the Bridge of the Americas at Panama City, Panama, which is part of the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Authority has awarded a $177.5-million dredging contract to a Belgium firm to widen and deepen the Pacific entrance to the canal as part of the massive $5.25-billion expansion to the historic waterway. Officials with the authority — referred to by its Spanish-language acronym, ACP � presented the contract to Dredging International of Belgium this week. "As the third and largest expansion program contract in terms of volume,
C.J. Schexnayder The new locks for the Panama Canal on the Pacific side will be built near the existing Miraflores locks in the footprint of a previous expansion effort abandoned due to World War II. The Panama Canal Authority has opened the bid process for the $3.35-billion locks portion of the ongoing massive expansion of the historic waterway. The "design-build" contracts will include the construction of two new sets of locks allowing the massive post-Panamax ships to utilize the waterway. The entire $5.25 billion expansion is expected to double the capacity of the historic waterway by the time it is
C.J. Schexnayder Progress on the $5.2-billion expansion of the Panama Canal has picked up steam with the awarding of the second of five dry excavation contracts to create a $400-million Pacific Locks Access Channel and the approval of entire project's Environmental Impact Assessment by the Panamanian authorities. At the end of November, Consorcio Cilsa Minera, made up of Mexico's Constructora de Infraestructura Latinoamericana SA (or CILSA) and Panamanian firm Minera Mar�a, presented the low bid of $25.5 million to excavate 7.5 million cubic meters of material in a 2.4 kilometer stretch just north of where the new Pacific locks will
C.J. Schexnayder Panamaxed out. Larger locks will mean larger vessels will be able to use the canal in 2014. On Friday, four consortia applied for qualification to build the $3.35-billion locks that will be the heart of the massive expansion to the Panama Canal. When completed, the new lock system will double the capacity of the historic waterway. "The locks project is the most important contract under the Expansion Program, and we foresee strong competition for the project," said Jorge L. Quijano, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Program Management with the Panama Canal Authority. "The companies that have submitted
C.J. Schexnayder Cracks in the roads hampered the delivery of assistance into the damage zone from Lima. LIMA, Peru – With the award of the final two contracts for the $1.3–billion Interoceanic Highway that will create a paved connection between Peru's Pacific coast and the Altlantic, the necessity for improvements for the country's North–South coastal corridor – the Pan–American Highway – has become even more critical. But when the 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck the southern coast of Peru earlier this month, it threw an ongoing upgrade effort into disarray. The Aug. 15 earthquake caused severe cracking along the highway and
+ click to enlarge C.J. Schexnayder Gatun locks mark Atlantic side of Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Authority took a first step in the $3.35–billion effort to construct a new set of locks, with the Aug. 28 release of a request for pre–qualifications. The locks, which will be located on each end of the canal and add a new lane of traffic, are the largest and most complicated aspect of the $5.25–billion expansion of the historic waterway. It is expected to be completed in 2014. Often known by its Spanish–language acronym, ACP, the quasi–governmental organization intends to build both new
