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Dragados among six in the running for fourth Panama bridge deal

All six consortia that submitted documents in May to design and build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal have pre-qualified, according to media reports. The companies officially vying for the estimated US$1 billion contract are: • Dragados • Consorcio CCB: Constructora Norberto Odebrecht, Odebrecht Engenharia e Construcao International • Consorcio Hyundai, Sacyr JV • Consorcio Astaldi – Daelim • Consorcio Panamá Cuarto Puente: China Communications Contruction Company, China Harbour Engi
August 23, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
All six consortia that submitted documents in May to design and build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal have pre-qualified, according to media reports.

The companies officially vying for the estimated US$1 billion contract are:

•    4761 Dragados

•    Consorcio CCB: Constructora Norberto 1305 Odebrecht, Odebrecht Engenharia e Construcao International

•    Consorcio 236 Hyundai, 3959 Sacyr JV

•    Consorcio 1324 Astaldi – 3088 Daelim

•    Consorcio Panamá Cuarto Puente: China Communications Contruction Company, China Harbour Engineering Company

•    Consorcio Cuarto Puente CSCEC – CREC – GLF:  5711 China State Construction Engineering Corporation, 890 China Railway Group

The bridge is likely to carry six vehicle lanes and two for a Panama metro rail link.

President Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez announced the intention to build a fourth bridge in February last year. Varela also said the government would move to expand to eight lanes the highway between the Bridge of the Americas and the district and town of Arraiján.

In June the government appointed the US engineering firm T.Y Lin International to start project managing construction of the fourth bridge. Lin had won an international tender for the work likely to cost around US$17 million. The announcement came just ahead of the opening by the Panama Canal Expansion authorities of a major project that widened the canal to allow canal use by ships with cargo capacity of up 20 TEU.

The first crossing to have been built is the Bridge of the Americas that spans the Pacific Ocean entrance to the canal. The bridge was designed by 5750 Sverdrup & Parcel and finished in 1962 at a cost of $20 million.

The second crossing, the Centennial Bridge, is also on the Pacific end of the canal and was opened in 2004 in an effort to ease congestion on the Bridge of the Americas. It also replaces it as part of the Pan-American Highway.

The third bridge over the Panama Canal, known as the Atlantic Bridge, is under construction in Colón and spans the Atlantic entrance to the Canal. The bridge was designed by China Communication Construction Company, consisting of HPDI and 1493 Louis Berger Group. Construction was started in January 2013 by the French company 3085 Vinci Construction Grands Projets and the bridge is expected to open later this year.

The Atlantic Bridge will be located 3 km north of the Gatun locks, near the city of Colon. The contract covers construction of a 1,050m cable-stayed concrete bridge carrying two lines of traffic in each direction, with a central span of 530m and pylons with a height of 212.5m. It will have a clearance of 75m above the canal. The Atlantic Bridge will be the longest concrete cable stayed bridge in the world with a central span of 530m, according to Vinci.

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