Honduras delays tender to build offshore penal complex

The launch of a tender to build a prison complex on the Cisne Islands in the Caribbean Sea has been pushed back by the Honduran government. 

Construction of the estimated US$800mn prison was announced in June – when it was said that the bidding process would start at the end of August. 

However, according to defense minister José Manuel Zelaya, pre-construction studies have not concluded. 

“We are working on the environmental impact statement, and environmental studies so that companies can participate. We hope to launch the bidding process at the end of this year or in the beginning of January,” he said, according to daily El Heraldo. “We hope that the works can start in February or March.”

The penal colony will house dangerous inmates and leaders of organized criminal gangs that will serve their sentences in total isolation. Zelaya added that there is no official investment amount yet.

“At the moment there is no amount, but we have it clear that it will be for 2,000 inmates, and we will have military officers and officials from the national penal institute,” he said.

The country’s civil engineers’ association has warned that building an offshore prison 200km from the mainland could drain state coffers and destroy unique ecosystems.