BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Panama Canal Authority will likely award the contract to build a new set of locks in late May, the authority's top official said Wednesday. The four groups selected by the authority have until March 3 to submit a bid and the authority will award the contract to one of the bidders by late May taking into account technical aspects and pricing, the Canal Authority's chief executive, Alberto Aleman, said Wednesday in a conference call. The winner will build two new locks, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the canal. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water reutilization basins. (more)


The locks will double the canal's traffic capacity and allow wider and longer ships to move between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.


The locks are the most significant part of the $5.25 billion expansion program to be finished in 2014. The authority estimates the designing and construction of the locks may cost about $2.73 billion.


The Panama Canal Authority is an autonomous government agency that manages the canal and will carry out the expansion.


The contract was originally scheduled to be awarded in December 2008, but Aleman said the works will be ready on time, despite the delay.


The authority secured a $2.3 billion financing for the project through loans from a group of multilateral agencies that include the Japan Bank for International Cooperation with $800 million, the European Investment Bank with $500 million, the Inter-American Development Bank with $400 million, the Andean Development Corp. with $300 million and the World Bank's International Finance Corp. with $300 million.


The authority plans to finance the remainder of the project through canal-generated cash flow.


The first group selected to bid, Consorcio CANAL includes Spanish companies Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA (ACS.MC), Acciona SA (ANA.MC), Fomento de Construcciones y Contratos SA (FCC.MC) and Germany's Hochtief AG (HOT.XE).


The second group - Consorcio Atlantico Pacifico de Panama - includes units of French companies Bouygues SA (12050.FR), Vinci SA (VICISY) and Alstom SA (1022047.FR), as well as Germany's Bilfinger Berger AG (GBF.XE) and Brazilian firm Construtora Queiroz Galvao SA.


The third consortium includes a unit of U.S.' Bechtel Group Inc. and Japanese companies Taisei Corp. (1801.TO) and Mitsubishi Corp. (MSBHY), while the fourth gathers Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SYV.MC), Italy's Impregilo SpA (IPG.MI), and Panama's Constructora Urbana SA.

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