Skip to main content

Guatemala highway upgrade and widening project

Guatemala is opening the tender process to improve and widen the CA-2 Occidente highway connection between Cocales and Tecun Uman. The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) is handling the tender for the project. Cocales is located in Guatemala’s Suchitepequez region, while Tecun Uman is in San Marcos. The highway capacity upgrade has an estimated cost of US$397.2 million to carry out. However, the project has been the subject of some controversy as the Brazilian contractor Odebrec
December 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Guatemala is opening the tender process to improve and widen the CA-2 Occidente highway connection between Cocales and Tecun Uman. The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) is handling the tender for the project. Cocales is located in Guatemala’s Suchitepequez region, while Tecun Uman is in San Marcos.

The highway capacity upgrade has an estimated cost of US$397.2 million to carry out. However, the project has been the subject of some controversy as the Brazilian contractor 1305 Odebrecht was originally handling the work. However the Guatemalan Atttorney General’s office (PGN) ruled that this contract be suspended. Odebrecht was paid 70% of the project’s estimated cost for the work but the legal dispute hinged on the lack of sufficient progress with the construction.

This is not the only highway project in Guatemala subject to legal issues however as a further dispute concerns the work to upgrade and widen the Escuintla-Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado road to dual carriageway status. The project has been handled by contractor Sigma Constructores but CIV has revealed it is also intent on cancelling this deal, signifying that the Guatemalan authorities are increasingly keen to ensure highway projects are handled efficiently and to the required schedule.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Delays for key Brazilian road projects
    March 3, 2016
    A series of major road projects in Brazil now look set to be delayed. Key road widening projects works awarded between 2012 and 2013 may now take longer than the original five year deadline to complete. Six road concession projects were awarded in the period, totalling over 3,000km of roads to be extended or upgraded. The contracts require that at least 10% of the planned work must be complete before any tolls can be charged. This initial phase has been carried out, but later stages to expand the roads have
  • Slovakia’s troubled D1 highway
    February 20, 2012
    Slovakia’s Ministry of Transport is to finance construction work on the 75km section of D1 highway between Martin and Presov from state funds, with work expected to start in the second quarter of 2011.
  • Colombia's roads to recovery
    February 8, 2012
    Colombia's Ministry of Transport is suggesting that the Avenida Longitudinal de Occidente (ALO) road project in Bogota should be carried out by Colombian energy company Empresa de Energia de Bogota (EEB).
  • Polish road dispute
    February 28, 2012
    A string of legal and political battles look likely in the aftermath of a broken highway contract in Poland.