Panama Canal expansion halted; Spanish consortia says a 'final offer' has been made

Thursday, February 6th 2014 - 01:00 UTC

Full article 5 comments

A dispute over a 1.6 billion dollar cost overrun in the Panama Canal's expansion took a new twist Wednesday after a Spanish company leading the project denied it halted work over the spat. Read full article

Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules

ChrisR
Spanish crooks, little tinkers, aren't they?

Still, the other new canal will make this one obsolete, so no harm done!

Ha, ha, ha.

That's what you get choosing a bunch of chancers and crooks to do any “building work” for you. 30,000 expats in Spain can testify to the systemised robbery over “country land” being built on with the connivance of the local mayor and some “solicitors”.

Just the same bunch with the same mentality on a larger scale.
Feb 06th, 2014 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
Briton
chrisR we both commented on this last week,

these Spanish fools will fxck it all up,

Panama will learn a harsh lesson, before this canal is finished..lol
Feb 06th, 2014 - 08:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
sceptic64
Sacyr: this is what happens when you bid for a contract in an honest country. They try and hold you to it.

So low-balling - standard practice in ultra-corrupt Spain - won't work. Leaving Sacyr with no other choice than to get their friends in the PP to rob the Spanish taxpayers to get this job done.
Feb 06th, 2014 - 11:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
Gordo1
Panamá is not universally known as “an honest country” - however in this instance it has shown itself to be very naive. The Spanish attitude of superiority towards Latin America is appalling and they think they can get away with it.

Stand firm, Panamá - insist that the Gallegos keep to the terms of the contract¡
Feb 07th, 2014 - 08:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
sceptic64
'Honest' is a comparative term.

A good friend of mine has worked as an architect in Spain for donkey's years and attests to the fact that 'lowballing' is standard practice there. This probably led Sacyr to believe they could do the same overseas, especially in another 'Hispanic' nation.

Lowballing: make a ridiculously low bid to win the contract; work for a little while, then say “costs ... aargh” and increase the price by 50% or so, threatening to pull out if the 'real' price is not met and holding the client to ransom.

It's interesting that, among the Wikileaks papers, were several references to this - the outcome was foreseen 4 years ago.

“Bechtel reps state a consortium cannot even ”pour the concrete“ for $3.1 billion and hinted even their $4.2 billion price was closer to a lowball bid than a value bid. It is widely expected that during construction, Sacyr will attempt to renegotiate the price with the ACP. ”

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/07/09PANAMA550.html
Feb 07th, 2014 - 08:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0
-+

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!