Seven months have passed since the Administrative Court of Public Contracts revoked a decision of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) and awarded the extension of the Vía España to the C&T Vía España consortium and nothing is known about when the order to proceed with the work will be given.
In the face of the expansion, on March 23, the consortium, made up of the companies Constructora Urbana, S.A. and Toronto Global Holdings, raised, through its legal team, a note to the court so that the current status of the award is known, decreed on September 8, 2022.
Consorcio C&T Vía España argues that it has delivered all the documentation required for the signing of the contract and has not yet received a response from the MOP.
This media communicated with the consortium and they confirmed that nothing has yet been advanced by the authorities to finalize the signing of the contract, despite the fact that the note was sent to the court almost a month ago.
Through a schedule it is specified that on September 9 the compliance bail was attached, while on October 26 the unit prices and the power of representation were broken down.
On September 20, the civil liability policy and heavy and automobile equipment were attached, in addition to other administrative documents.
Finally, on October 19, documents were delivered to be sent to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, including the financial proposal, production curve and the financial model.
In the tender for the expansion of Vía España, from the intersection with Vía Porras to the intersection with Avenida Cincuentenario, two consortia participated and the MOP awarded the work to Centroequipos, S.A., which offered $90.6 million for the project.
C&T Vía España Consortium, which presented an economic proposal of $0.1 billion, challenged the award and took the case to the Administrative Court of Public Procurement, which revoked the ministerial decision and awarded the project to Cusa and Toronto Global Holdings.
In statements given in the first half of October 2022 to Panama America, Edgar Aguilera, director of Contracts of the MOP, was confident that after the bureaucratic procedure, the expansion would begin in this year’s dry season, a situation that has not occurred.
The extension to six lanes of this road artery, one of the main ones in the capital, is a new model of urban planning, since it will have exclusive lanes for public transport, located in the center of the road.
The works have also generated uncertainty in owners of commercial premises and residents of condominiums located in the 5.4 kilometers in which the road will be expanded.