THE PRESENT  Panama  government  is following in the footsteps of the Martinelli  administration  using the turnkey modality  to finance upcoming major infrastructure projects.  

Turnkey means the design and completion of the project is in the hands  of the contractor.

The projects involved are  line 3 of the Metro, the expansion of the PanAmerican highway between the Bridge of the Americas and Arraiján, and a highway expansion between La Chorrera and San Carlos.

For thee three projects, the government plans a payment schedule that will go to at least 2022, well beyond the administration of President Juan Carlos  Varela, which ends June 30, 2019.

This comes  in addition to the financing of line 2 of the Metro, which will cost $2 billion.

In the case of line 3 of the Metro, a credit was contracted with Japan for up to $2.6 billion.

Resources from the annual budget will be used to pay for the two road projects.

The expansion of the highway between the Bridge of the Americas and Arraiján was awarded for 335.6 million to the Acciona­Meco consortium.

The La Chorrera project is divided into two contracts to be paid between 2018 and 2022, but the amounts  have not yet been revealed because they are still in the bidding process.