New convention center back on track

THE NEW CONVENTION center at Amador will include additional work but the cost or the turnkey project will remain at $193.7 million.
The project had been on the list of “high-risk projects,” left over from the Ricardo Martinelli administation that recorded little progress in their implementation, coupled with high construction costs.

The news, which comes after weeks of negotiation between the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) and HPC-Hire-P & V will be welcomed by the hotel industry suffering through its lowest occupancy rate in five years with a glut of new rooms
The industry had hoped that the new center would be up and running in 2015, and attracting large conventions.
In August occupancy fell to56% with the number of tourists is not enough to absorb the 7,000 new built in the city, between 2010 and 2014.
In the negotiation between the ATP and the contractor, which is an integrated consortium of companies from Panama, Costa Rica, Spain and Puerto Rico The original amount of parking did not meet the standard that regulates construction in Amador, so the new government asked for it to be included in the project. , bringing parking to 1143.
The contractor’s estimates it will cost over $ 20 million to build additional parking, but eventually the authorities got the companies to have the work included in the price initially agreed.
The new structure will have an internal exhibition center (23,871 m2), a building for banquets and restaurants (23,722 m2), a theater (14 001 m2) and an area for external displays (12 786 m2).
In addition to parking, the size of the building where the theater is that in the original plan accommodates 2,048 seats will be increased.
The ATP has asked the contractor to accelerate work, and the company has committed to providing a new schedule.
The consortium had indicated that the strike by construction workers earlier this year, as well as delays in the installation of piles due to the rocky material in the area, had delayed the work.
The administration of the complex will be through a public event company.