BY KATHIA MARTINEZ
The Associated Press
PANAMA CITY – Panama’s president said Thursday that he’ll travel to Italy and Spain to seek their governments’ help in resolving a $1.6 billion dispute that’s threatening to halt the Panama Canal’s expansion.
The consortium responsible for most of the expansion issued an ultimatum Wednesday giving the Panama Canal Authority 21 days to pay for a cost overrun that’s roughly half of Grupo Unidos por el Canal’s original $3.2 billion bid to build a third set of locks. The consortium is formed by Spain’s Sacyr Vallehermoso, Impregilo of Italy, Jan De Nul of Belgium and Constructora Urbana SA of Panama. The canal authority says the companies are responsible for the extra costs.
President Ricardo Martinelli said that Italy and Spain “have a moral responsibility” to help resolve the dispute between the companies and Panama.
“It’s not possible for a company to just announce an enormous amount of cost overruns, when they had already fixed a price,” Martinelli said. “And now they’re coming forward saying that the price has risen.”
The Panama Canal Authority says the business consortium is unjustly trying to force it to pay for the cost overruns with the threat to halt work. Each side says the other is responsible for the added costs.
Alberto Alemán Zubieta, a former administrator of the canal, said he believed the dispute would be resolved in a way that wouldn’t delay the completion of the canal expansion.
“I believe there’s still a lot left to discuss,” he told a local television station.
