Panama Accelerates Infrastructure Projects via Public-Private Partnerships

The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) is carrying out several projects through Public-Private Partnerships (APP). One of them is the rehabilitation of the Eastern Pan-American Highway, which runs between Las Garzas and Yaviza. Work is progressing at a good pace after a recent field inspection. The Centenario Bridge was recently the subject of repair and maintenance work. In a new vision to speed up projects to be carried out through APP, another difference from the Pan-American highway rehabilitations is that for this project, there will be no pre-qualification, but rather a direct transition to the tender. Regarding the rehabilitation of the Western Pan-American Highway, Andrade recalled that the project was awarded and that preliminary work, such as cleaning central gutters, is currently underway while administrative procedures are completed for the official start of the works. "What has been rethought in this administration is to go directly to tender to speed up schedules so that the economy begins to circulate and jobs are generated," highlighted Ana Julia Carreira, National Secretary of Public-Private Partnerships, in statements given to Panamá América last August. Between March and April, the tender for what will be the third project of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) carried out through a Public-Private Partnership (APP) must be called: the expansion of the roads to the Centenario Bridge. The APP Vías del Istmo consortium, made up of the companies Promotora y Desarrolladora Mexicana de Infraestructura and Calzada Construcciones, both from Mexico, and Ingeniería Estrella, from the Dominican Republic, will be in charge of this work, which covers the section between Sajalices and Santiago. And according to projections, the average daily traffic will increase from the 41,000 vehicles that moved in 2022 to more than 112,000 in 2040. The initiative includes expanding the Centenario highway from four to six lanes and the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway from six to eight lanes, incorporating express lanes with a toll system. The APP to expand the Centenario highway and the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway is the first to include toll payment on the section to be expanded. It is estimated that the rehabilitation of these roads will benefit more than 100,000 people who travel daily between the city of Panama and the western sector by reducing vehicular congestion. The contract duration will be 25 years, longer than the other two APPs, with an 18-month pre-construction phase and a 30-month construction phase. It involves the intervention of a brownfield-type road (improvement of existing infrastructure), approximately 42.5 kilometers long, covering sections of the highway and the expressway, divided into six sections.