Potential bidders attend meeting for Panama's 3rd metro tender

Representatives from the two individual companies and five consortiums that were pre-qualified to participate in the tender for the design and construction of Panama City's third metro line attended a clarification meeting Tuesday. Operator Metro de Panamá organized the meeting as part of the tender process.

On Monday, the potential bidders and the operator visited the sites where the 14 stations for the line are slated to be built. During Tuesday's meeting, they then had their questions and observations related to the tender documents addressed.

The tender for the metro line was launched last month. Submission deadline and bids opening are set for January 25.

The prequalified participants include state-owned China Railway Group Limited; South Korean consortium Consorcio HP Joint Venture, comprising Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Posco Engineering & Construction; Consorcio ACPC Línea 3, formed by Spain's Acciona Construcción and PowerChina; and Consorcio Oriental Metro Línea 3, comprising China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and Beijing Urban Construction Group.

Spanish-Mexican-Korean consortium Consorcio Línea 3 FCC-CICSA-SKEGFCC, formed by FCC Construcción, Carso Infraestructura y Construcción and SK Engineering & Construction; Italy's Astaldi; and Consorcio Línea 3 Monorail Panamá, comprising Spanish construction firm OHL, Brazil's Andrade Gutierrez Engenharia and the Panama subsidiary of Portugal's Mota-Engil, make up the remainder of the list.

The US$2.6bn line will be financed with a loan from JICA and run parallel to the Pan American highway, crossing the Panama Canal on the fourth bridge that is to be built over the waterway.

The east-west monorail line will be 26.8km long, connecting Albrook on line No. 1 with Ciudad del Futuro in the Arraiján district of Panama Oeste province, west of the canal.

PICTURED: The clarification meeting. CREDIT: Metro de Panamá.