Canal Authority said unreasonable over quality control

 WHILE the claim and counter claim battle  over Panama Canal Authority (ACP)payments to Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) moves into the new yearw the consortium says that the ACP is being unreasonable about quality control.

On Wednesday  it claimed that a request by consortium-member Sacyr for a payment from the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) was not for a loan, but rather a “pending payment.”

The Spanish company has requested a $190 million payment from the ACP to allow it to complete work on the third set of locks.

While the ACP called it a request for a loan, GUPC said that it is a request for a payment owed to the consortium, which has claimed that the imposition of bureaucratic barriers have delayed payments. This has put pressure on the consortium’s financial position.

The ACP said that it has always been willing to recognize additional costs submitted by the consortium that are properly supported reports La Prensa.

So far, the entity has disbursed $4.235 billion to GUPC since it started work on the third set of locks. The amount is $1 billion more than the contracted amount  of $3.1 billion.

That amount includes an $860 million advance that was provided due to the consortium’s financial problems.