Panama awards supervision contract for sewage works

Panama's health ministry has awarded an eight-year contract to supervise the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a wastewater collection and treatment system for the districts of Arraiján and La Chorrera in Panamá Oeste province.

With a bid of US$22.4mn, a consortium comprising Ayesa México and Ayesa Ingeniería & Arquitectura was declared the winner, beating offers from two other bidders.

The tender was only open to firms appearing on an eligible consultants list of the IDB, which is financing the supervision works, local paper La Prensa reported.

The contract winner will provide management, technical assistance, and supervision services for the project, which also involves the construction of a 1.3m3/s capacity wastewater treatment plant in the Arraiján Este sector.

Related works the Ayesa consortium will also supervise include the construction of a 6km interceptor tunnel, four pumping stations, 300km of sewer networks and 60km of collectors, all of which are for cleaning up the sub-basins of the Aguacate, Bernardino, Prudente, Martín Sánchez, Rodeo, Caimito, Piedras and Puerto Caimito rivers.

The work is part of the first phase of the country's US$640mn Panamá Oeste sanitation program, which is an extension of the US$2bn Panama Bay clean-up program.