he Tocumen International Airportmain Panama A regional call center reported on Friday that Odebrecht He was ordered to pay more than $30 million in an arbitration award for breach of contract.
Odebrecht, renamed CNO after a bribery scandal that has engulfed dozens of countries on the continent, “has been ordered to pay $29,100,000 in lost profits and $1,661,730.31 in damages,” Tocumen’s management said in a statement.
“In total, the arbitration award awards an economic award of $30,761,730.31 in favor of Tocumen, a milestone in the dispute that began in September 2021” when the terminal management terminated the contract with the Brazilian construction company. “Serious non-compliance in the implementation of the Terminal 2 expansion program,” the letter reads.
According to press sources, this case was addressed before the arbitration court of the Panama Conciliation and Arbitration Center.
The airport expansion was scheduled to be delivered “at the end of 2017, but has suffered multiple delays due to eight additions and continued non-compliance by the contractor,” forcing Tocumen, a state-owned company, “to incur extraordinary expenses and stop receiving income for spaces already contracted,” the terminal management reiterated on Friday.
He confirmed that Terminal 2 (T2) of Tocumen was awarded to Odebrecht in 2012, and construction began in 2013 for an initial sum of $679 million, but ended up with investments exceeding $900 million.
He added that they are waiting for the technical report from the company. Technological University of Panama (UTP) on the extent of the collapses in the aircraft parking area of the new Terminal 2, which affected the operation of six of the 20 passenger boarding and disembarkation gates.
Tocumen added that necessary repairs will be made to the area affected by the landslides.It could exceed $15 million, according to initial studies.”
T2 is a 116,000 square metre building that will increase the airport's capacity from 12 to 25 million passengers per year, according to official information.
Odebrecht has been investigated in Panama for bribery. The company and the Panamanian prosecutor's office signed an agreement in July 2017 in which the company promised to pay the state $220 million in fines over 12 years, which it has not done.
The Brazilian construction company has been implicated in the biggest corruption scandal in Panama’s history, implicating former presidents, ministers and their relatives. About two dozen defendants will face trial, set to begin late this year or early 2025, after at least three arrests.
