$63 million cost overruns on uncompleted highway

A report by the National Assembly Committee on Public Infrastructure and Canal Affairs estimated that the expansion of the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway had cost overruns of $63 million.

 The study, prepared by two engineers, an architect and an economist, calculates that the actual cost of the work should have been $98.8 million.
The contract signed in 2010 by Minister of Public Works Federico José Suárez and construction company Transcaribe Trading (TCT) was for $152.6 million, which was later expanded to $161.8 million.
TCT was the company that, in August 2012, sent trucks and workers to block the printing works of La Prensa to block delivery of the newspaper because it had published investigative stories about the company and it owners,
The project, to rehabilitate and expand the 22.3 kilometer stretch of highway, has not been completed and is several years behind schedule.
The cost overruns were mainly in the price paid for materials, such as concrete and asphalt. The report also cited cost overruns in exchanges and in items such as the painting of bridges.
There have also been reports of maintenance issues with the work that have had to be repaired by the Ministry.
Minister of Public Works, Ramon Arosemena told La Prensa yesterday that besides the expansion of the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway are other works contracted by the previous administration are being investigated.
Arosemena said they are “checking the contract quantities, prices and other aspects, to if everything is built to standard specifications and according to plans.”