The new convention center project in Panama City advances

The project to build a new convention center in Panama City at the entrance to the Amador Causeway, adjacent to the neighborhood of El Chorrillo, begins to take shape.

Next Tuesday, the administrator of the ATP will present in the Cabinet Council the conceptual design of convention center.

The firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), the same who designed the concept of financial tower which will rise in the former U.S. Embassy at Avenida Balboa, delivered to the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) the conceptual design for the convention center.

For the design SOM charged by $ 300 thousand, but the idea of the American company was to design the plans for the convention center, with a proposed $ 14 million offer which was rejected by the ATP, considering too high. The institution will contract directly the American company Conventional Wisdom, in an amount close to $ 405,000 to make the technical design of the convention center.

The company, using the design by SOM, will do a consultation to specify how many rooms should the center have, type of lighting and ventilation, among other technical aspects.

Yesterday, the National Tourism Council agreed that the Tourism Authority of Panama request to the National Economic Council the exception to the selection procedure for hiring the contractor Conventional Wisdom directly. Among the arguments wielded by Salomon Shamah the administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority is that Conventional Wisdom is one of the best firms in the preparation of technical drawings of convention centers.

Among the projects undertaken by this firm is the technical concept of the convention center of the city of San Juan in Puerto Rico, which has an area of 53 thousand square meters and cost $250 million.

It is estimated that construction of the new convention center will require an investment of nearly $100 million, and in its first stage,  15 thousand square meters are authorized, but it is projected that the work is of 50 thousand meters total.

To finance the project, the Government of Panama will sell part of the 60-acre landfill to be done in the area to hotel chains to be built around it.

Also, if the Government decides to sell the Atlapa convention center, these funds also be used to pay part of the project, said Shamah.

The convention center would begin construction early next year, and should be ready by mid 2013, he added. Once Conventional Wisdom delivers its recommendations, the next step is a call for tenders for the design plans and the construction of the complex.

As for the administration of the convention center, Jaime Campuzano the president of the National Tourism Board said, for now, a scheme has not established and noted that in its proposal, Conventional Wisdom will make recommendations for which scheme would be better.

Article courtesy of La Prensa Newspaper

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