Work to widen the Panama Canal will "probably" be suspended next week due to the ongoing cost overrun dispute. This is what Jorge Quijano, administrator of the canal, claims after meeting with the Gupc consortium (Sacyr, Salini Impregilo, Jan de Nil and Panama Constructora Urbana) which is carrying out the works. So far the consortium and the ACO (Panama Canal Authority) authorities have not been able to reach a compromise and the Gupc had set a three-week period which expires next Monday. The consortium has threatened to halt construction on the Second Canal due to cost overruns of $1,6 billion. Gupc asked the ACP to cover the additional cost, which however rejected the request, accusing the consortium of forcing a negotiation outside the contractual terms. The initial cost of the works was set at $3,1 billion, with work starting in 2009 and finishing in 2015.
The Spanish government has already said it is trying to reach an agreement between the parties, while this morning a meeting was held at Palazzo Chigi between Enrico Letta's economic adviser, Fabrizio Pagani, the diplomatic adviser, Armando Varricchio and the entrepreneurs Pietro Salini and Luisa Todini precisely, after diplomacy also moved yesterday, as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, with the meeting between the Minister of Infrastructure Maurizio Lupi and the CEO of Salini Impregilo, Pietro Salini.
At the moment, however, Salini is not affected, which in Piazza Affari is in positive territory in the mid-afternoon. Sacyr also resists on the Madrid Stock Exchange, where at 16 pm it gains 0,16%.
