Spanish Minister arrives to discuss Canal confrontation

SPANISH CABINET MINISTER Ana Pastor flew into Panama Sunday, January 5 to meet with President Ricardo Martinelli to discuss the confrontation between the Canal Authority (ACP) and the consortium building the third set of locks for the expansion project.

Both sides of the dispute appear to be hardening their stance, and commentators have said that there is no legality in Martinelli’s political involvement and his statements that the Spanish and Italian governments have a moral obligation to intercede.

Officials with the ACP said Sunday that the arguments raised by the consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) to justify its $1.6 billion claim in cost overruns for the construction of the third set of locks have no legal basis and are not clear.
Consequently, they stated that the consortium has no basis for threatening to stop work on the project, as it has threatened to do if the money is not paid.
The authority also reminded the contractor that it sent a message on December13 asking for the issues related to the cost overruns to be explained in detail, but it never received a response.
These points were raised by Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais. He said the authority is prepared to take over the project if the consortium stops work. The authority has also demanded answers about issues related to the work, including a reduction in workers and significant delays in the delivery of the gates of the locks.
Meanwhile La Prensa revealed that a senior political advisor to Martinelli is a partner in the law firm representing GUPC.