Panama Canal receives bids for excavation

Panama Canal receives bids for excavation    The Panama Canal Authority said Tuesday that it has received four bids to excavate a portion of the new access channel linking the new Pacific locks with the Gaillard Cut, the narrowest stretch of the canal.
   The excavation is part of the expansion project to build a new set of locks for the canal to allow larger ships to transit the isthmus and ease congestion.
   The authority said it will thoroughly analyze the technical and financial submissions and award the contract in the coming weeks.
   The bidders and the amount of their bids are:
   *Odebrecht, $379,803,132.13.
   *Jan de Nul – Chec, $359,102,231.18.
   *FCC-ICA-Meco, $267,798,795.99.
   *ISC Panam', $294,913,000.00.
      Jorge L. Quijano, the authority’s executive vice president of engineering and program management, said the project is the second largest expansion contract after the construction of the canal's new locks. He said “we are very pleased to see that the competition among top construction companies has resulted in bids that are within the ACP's budget.'
   Similar to the three prior dry excavation projects, the ACP will award the contract to the firm with the lowest-priced bid that meets all of the requirements stated in the request for proposals. Over the next few days, the ACP will review the documents submitted by the lowest bidder to verify the company's experience, technical capacity, financial strength and bonding before awarding the contract.
   The work includes 26 million cubic meters of unclassified excavation, the installation of a backfilled cellular cofferdam water barrier and the construction of an earth-rock filled dam that will create part of the access channel's eastern bank. Other work under the contract will include constructing access roads, managing disposal site areas for excavated or dredged material, installing a dewatering system to remove surface and underground water, clearing unexploded ordinance (remnants from former U.S. military training facilities) in the canal area, and other miscellaneous tasks such as demolition work.