Infastructure deadlines loom as strike talks continue

The 30 days of strike by construction workers will not change the scheduled date for the opening of Terminal 2 at Tocumen International Airport but could be a major problem for Metro Line 2.

Both government projects hope to be operational in time for the arrival of scores, perhaps hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world to join Pope Francis in celebrating World Youth Day (WYD) in January 2019.

On Thursday, leaders of the Panamanian Construction Chamber (Capac) and the construction Workers union Suntracs) tried to find a midpoint that would put an end to the strike that is costing the Panama economy $30 million a  day,

If an agreement is reached on Friday some  260 projects in the public and private sectors will be reactivated.

The director of Panama Metro, Roberto Roy, said that at the start of the strike, line 2 was  75% complete, but with the stoppage, the situation has become critical. “The execution schedule of the work must surely be adjusted,” he told La Prensa.

If the stoppage does not end Friday,  the situation will be “Quite serious”.

Carlos Duboy, manager of Tocumen Airport, S.A., said that the interruption of the works postpones the delivery date by the contractor. “The deadline was October 15 and now it will be in November. But we keep the start date of operations for January 2019, “Duboy said.

The two sides are still meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of Labor.

President Varela is due back in Panama from The UK and Israel on Saturday. Before he left a week ago, he had called on the negotiators to seek arbitration and for work to restart on May 15. His pleas were ignored and he left on a trip that some 85% of polled Panamanians described as “unnecessary”.