Morgan & Morgan advises on Panama Metro project
Morgan & Morgan advised Hitachi, Mitsubishi Corporation and Ansaldo on the negotiation of an agreement signed with state-owned Metro de Panama for works on the monorail-type Line 3 of the Panama Metro.
The consortium was nominated subcontractor for the $840mn turn-key contract in August as a result of a public bidding process and will design, supply and put into operation the integrated operating systems of the Line 3 Project, and which includes monorail-type rolling stock, a signalling system, train control using CBTC technology and a communication system.
The consortium will also supply the control centre, traction power system and low-voltage transformation system, track switches and automatic platform doors, among other responsibilities.
Ansaldo, which provides signalling technology and other services for mass transport networks, is an Italy-based subsidiary of Hitachi Group.
Panama secured a $2.6bn financing plan for the Metro project in 2016 with Japan’s international cooperation agency JICA.
Morgan & Morgan said this transaction was complex due to the fact that the contractual terms and conditions of the subcontractor’s contract had to be agreed with Metro de Panama as the project’s owner, but not as a party of the said contract between the nominated subcontractor and the main contractor.
The Panama Metro is the most important public infrastructure project currently under development in the country and the first of its kind in Central America.
Line 3 will run for about 34km and will connect Line 1 with the Arraiján district of Panama Oeste province, west of the Panama Canal (pictured), running parallel to the Pan American highway, and crossing the canal.
The new line is slated to enter operation in 2023.
Morgan & Morgan partner Inocencio Galindo and senior associate Aristides Anguizola participated in the transaction.
