Expansion of the Panama Canal
With regard to the critical situations that have been detected for this project, please refer to the information provided in this Directors’ Report under the heading “Risk areas and Litigation”.
In July 2009, Impregilo, through Grupo Unidos por el Canal Consortium – a consortium with members Sacyr Vallehermoso (Spain), Jan de Nul (Belgium), and the Panamanian company Constructora Urbana (Cusa) – received official notification of the competitive bidding award to build a new system of locks as part of the Panama Canal expansion project. The bid came to $3.22 billion. The project, is one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken, calling for the construction of two new sets of locks, one on the Atlantic side and one on the Pacific side. It will allow commercial traffic through the canal to increase and meet growth in the maritime transport market, characterized by a trend toward the construction of larger and heavier vessels, referred to as Post Panamax, than those which can currently pass through the existing locks. The percentage of work completion as of June 30, 2015, was 89.6%. In June, the chambers of the Atlantic and Pacific side of the Canal were flooded. Please note that due to the application of the new IFRS 10 and 11 reporting standards, with regard to this half-yearly report, the company carrying out the activities for these works is valuated according to the equity method.