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Panama launches infrastructure hat-trick

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The government of Panama recently announced three major new transportation and energy megaprojects with international investments and partnerships worth over $4bn. The projects include the construction of what will be Central America’s first natural gas based energy plant, Line 3 of Panama’s metro, and the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. The announcement came just weeks ahead of the 26 June opening by the government of the Panama Canal Expansion, which will transform the ease and cost of global shipping by allowing for ships with larger cargo capacity (20 TEU) to transit across the Canal. As noted by Petroleum Review in its December 2014 issue, the expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to herald a shake-up of the global LNG market, more about which can be found in the pages of our forthcoming July issue.

President Juan Carlos Varela announced the launch of construction of the first natural gas based energy plant in Central America, which will be developed by the AES Corporation with an investment of over $1bn. The new plant in Colon will generate 381 MW of new energy, strengthening Panama’s energy capacity, and will create nearly 2,000 construction jobs for Panamanians.

Meanwhile, a consortium of Nippon Koei Company, Tonichi Engineering Consultant and Nippon Koei Latin America-Caribbean Company will act as project managers for the development of Line 3 of Panama’s metro. The project, which will include monorail technology and 14 passenger stations, is expected to reduce traveling times by 50% for almost 20,000 passengers. Line 2 is currently being built by an international consortium with a total investment of almost $1.9 billion.

TY Lin International was also given the green light to begin project management of construction of the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, at a cost of over $17mn.

Source: Government of Panama

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