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 extension project. The bid came to $3.22 billion.
The project, referred to as Post Panamax, 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 than those which can currently pass through the existing locks.
For a review of the main types of critical issues identified for this project, refer to the information provided later in this section under the heading “Risk areas".
The percentage of completion as of December 31, 2014 was 84.2%.
Under the new IFRS 10 and 11, in these financial statements the company that performs the works relating to this project is measured at equity.