ACP Announces Pre-qualified Tenderers for Atlantic Bridge Construction

News Release Panama Canal Authority March 31, 2012

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The Panama Canal
Authority (ACP) announced the
pre-qualification of the two consortia and one company interested in bidding on
a tender for the construction of a bridge over the Atlantic end to the
Canal.
The pre-qualified tenderers
are:
·       Consorcio Acciona Infraestructuras-Tradeco - (Spain
– Mexico)
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·       Odebrecht – Hyundai Joint Venture - (Brazil –
Korea) 
·       Vinci Construction Grands Projets – (France)

The pre-qualification was made
after a technical board formed by Canal professionals analyzed all the
information submitted by the interested parties to assess technical criteria,
their experience and financial capacity.  
The pre-qualified consortia and
company will now participate in the second round of the process, through which
the contractor responsible for the construction will be selected.  

The second phase of
the process will begin with the submittal by the ACP of the instructions to
those interested in this bid including the design and contract specifications, a
visit to the site organized for the pre-qualified companies and the receipt of
final proposals approximately in August of this year.
The construction of
the bridge by the ACP is based on Article 3 of Law 28 of July 17, 2006, through
which the construction of the Third Set of Locks for the Panama Canal was
approved and which establishes the construction of a vehicular crossing on the
Atlantic side to link both Canal banks. 
The bridge design is
inspired on similar existing infrastructure in countries such as Spain, Korea,
France, China and Japan.  The double-plane, twin pylon, cable-stayed bridge
will feature four lanes of traffic.  Its length will be 4.6 kilometers and
it will stand 75 meters above sea level. 
The bridge will be
located 3 kilometers north of Gatun Locks and the new Post-Panamax locks on the
Atlantic side and Thelma King Avenue in the province of Colon.  Once
completed, it will benefit neighboring communities as it will expedite vehicular
crossing over the Canal.</DIV></BODY></HTML>