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Guatemala highway stalled causing problem

A stalled highway project in Guatemala is causing serious problems for the country.
June 28, 2017 Read time: 1 min

A stalled highway project in Guatemala is causing serious problems for the country. Construction work on the CA-2 Occidente highway project was halted following investigations into the practices of Brazilian contractor Norberto Odebrecht. The work is only partially complete, with just 30% of the construction having been carried out. However the contractor has already been paid around 70% of the funds required to build the highway.

This leaves Guatemala’s Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) in a difficult position. CIV may have to formally annul the previous contract and offer the remainder of the works due for completion under a new tender process. However recovering the funding already paid out to the Brazilian contractor may be challenging, given that the firm is immersed in financial problems following investigations into its business practices in its home country and elsewhere in Latin America.

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