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Panama concessions under scrutiny: Decades-long delays plague major projects
🇵🇦 Panama /Energy & Infrastructure

Panama concessions under scrutiny: Decades-long delays plague major projects

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • An investigation by TVN in Panama uncovered patterns of mismanagement and corruption in four public concessions: energy, electricity distribution, waste management, and ports.
  • Projects like the Chan II hydroelectric plant and a port near the Canal have faced significant delays and issues, with contracts allegedly negotiated in favor of companies and state oversight proving inadequate.
  • Citizens ultimately bear the cost of these poorly designed contracts, leading to unreliable services and financial burdens.

Panama's public concessions are mired in a consistent pattern of mismanagement and alleged corruption, an investigation by TVN revealed. Four key sectors, energy, electricity distribution, waste management, and ports, show similar flaws: contracts favoring companies, stifled bidding processes, and delayed or absent state oversight.

our last great battery of renewable energy, because it is a plant, a project that would have water storage capacity for several weeks.

— Jorge Rivera StaffDescribing the potential of the Chan II hydroelectric project.

The Chan II hydroelectric project in Bocas del Toro, intended to supply 10% of the country's energy, has been stalled for 20 years. Initially granted to the state-owned Egesa with insufficient funds, its subsequent tender attracted only Odebrecht, a company later implicated in bribery scandals. TVN Investiga found that technical requirements, like purchasing a $50,000 DVD, effectively limited competition. Odebrecht abandoned the project in 2018 without starting construction, leaving the concession with six amendments and an uncertain future.

Similar issues plague other concessions. A port project near the Panama Canal has remained in ruins for 13 years. An entire district endured streets filled with garbage for a quarter-century. Millions of electricity customers face unreliable service despite paying bills. Deputy Janine Prado described these issues as a "grave and systematized structural failure" that creates fertile ground for abandoned projects or those yielding little for the state.

Definitely there is a grave and systematized structural failure over the years, which creates the perfect breeding ground for projects to be abandoned or to yield very little for the State.

— Janine PradoCommenting on the systemic issues affecting public concessions.

State oversight bodies acknowledge contract deficiencies. Jorge Billingslea of ASEP admitted that the Chan II contract "must be updated." While a 2031 operational date is projected, construction has yet to begin. Egesa did not respond to interview requests. The investigation also highlighted problems in electricity distribution, managed by Naturgy and Ensa, where the state holds a 48% stake.

must be updated, in fact, because in the last addendum it was with construction start in 2025 and construction completion in the year 2030.

— Jorge BillingsleaAdmitting the need to update the Chan II contract.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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