Panama-Odebrecht contract signed as boss sits in jail

PANAMA’S Metro Authority  has completed its review and signed the contract for the construction of line 2 of the Metro with a consortium led by Norberto Odebrecht of Brazil and Spain’s FCC Construction.

The news came on the same day as Odebrech’ts president Marcelo Odebrecht was denied bail in Brazil while under investigation in a multi billion corruption scandal with Panama surfacing as a conduit for bribes transferred to accounts in Switzerland
The contract will be now sent to the comptroller for verification.
It calls for the system to be extended from San Miguelito to Tocumen and to be completed in 44 months. The cost is $1.8 billion.
The contractor must post a bond of $310.7 million.
Line 2 will be 21 kilometers and have 16 stations.
There have been numerous calls for the cancelation of the project and others, but President Juan Carlos Varela has defended the award.