The Board of Directors of the Urban and Home Cleaning Authority (AAUD) withdrew from the Online Quotation with the Ecolimpia Consortium, for the two-year transitory operation of the Cerro Patacón Sanitary Landfill.
AAUD’s decision occurs because the Parties were unable to agree on points of view and interpretations regarding the Terms of Reference that served as the basis for the presentation of their proposal and the draft of the contract that the consortium presented at the table as a counter proposal
In this sense, it should not be forgotten that the objective of this contract is based on the premise that the contractor “would be in full charge, operating with the diligence of a good father of a family, and efficiently officiating the service management and final disposal of waste received daily at the Cerro Patacón sanitary landfill”.
AAUD indicated that when the contract negotiations began, they found themselves faced with a counter-proposal from the Consortium that only includes a partial operation of the sanitary landfill, which does not take into account essential elements such as the total safety of the landfill, the management of the leachate plant, the management of gas capture and rehabilitation of access roads to the areas where the operation is carried out, which are called Environmental Liabilities not attributable to the Consortium, and whose management involves an additional cost.
This Online Quotation occurred after the completion of the contract with the company Urbalia Panamá SA, on March 26, 2023, which, according to reports presented by the AAUD and the Ministry of the Environment, failed to comply with the environmental provisions in force in the management of the landfill, which earned him the imposition of more than 110 sanctions for an approximate amount of B/1 million.
Until a new Online Quote is made to select the company that can provide and meet the necessary requirements, the Cleaning Authority will continue to be in charge of the operation of the sanitary landfill.
In the transitory period of the operation of the sanitary landfill, the tender documents will be prepared for an international tender where a new model is adopted for the management of solid waste with the latest modern technology for its use and recovery.
