Guatemala's first PPP project to start in May, says consortium

Amid concerns of potential delays to Guatemala’s Escuintla-Quetzal port highway upgrade project, the head of the winning consortium Convía, Sandro Testelli, said works will start in May as expected. 

The 25-year concession – the country's first public-private partnership – was awarded in July 2018 but the project was only approved by congress in November 2021. 

Along with repairs, the upgrade involves installing toll booths to collect revenue for Convía, which will operate and maintain the 43km stretch connecting the municipalities of Escuintla, Masagua, Iztapa and San José.

Testelli – who is also the director of Marhnos Guatemala, which together with local construction company Precon holds the US$125mn contract through Convía (Consorcio Autopistas de Guatemala) – denied local press reports pointing to further delays, after works were initially expected to start in January. 

“It has not been postponed," Testelli told BNamericas. "We're in a process where the proposal for the execution of the works has been delivered. The works should start in May, according to the dates in the contract.” 

Meanwhile, Guatemala’s general election on June 25 is seen as potentially affecting key infrastructure projects such as the Escuintla-Quetzal highway. 

“There are some who play the political arena and are trying to attract votes by opposing the projects,” Marvin Flores, an analyst at transparency NGO Acción Ciudadana, recently told BNamericas.

Asked about the effect that Guatemala’s elections could have on what is the country’s first public-private partnership, Testelli said the political context would not affect the highway. “It’s a parallel topic. The project’s structure is determined by a law governed by the legislature of Guatemala and validated through a presidential decree. The times and forms of the contract are independent from the political environment.”