OPINION: Opaque bidding process for Canal bridge

The tender for the fourth bridge over the Panama  Canal was not a run of the mill affair Actually, it’s about the second most costly project of the current government.

The process of this hiring has been prolonged, cumbersome and sometimes confusing. The Minister of Public Works was not even present at the event of opening of envelopes of economic offers, an event that occurred yesterday [Friday]. It included the proposal of a company that withdrew from the tender.

There is no questioning the need for an infrastructure that would relieve the intercity traffic between the two banks of the Canal, and that includes the planned railway for the projected Metro line three and even a possible fast train to the city of David. It is, however, the lack of transparency of a recruitment so delicate that it seemed that it was going to be suspended, whose evaluation committee was dismantled and its report was unknown. What interests are there linked to the fourth bridge beyond the obvious winner of the tender?

The new bridge will strengthen the country’s logistics platform, improve the quality of life of thousands of Panamanians who must spend long hours in congested urban traffic Faced with these clear benefits where was the need to accelerate the bidding or cloud with the shadow of doubt a work so relevant? The government of Juan Carlos Varela will carry these questions on its shoulders …  LA PRENSA, June 30