- The company won, in a public tender, the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project awarded by the Ministry of Public Works of Panama (MOP).
- The award, made to ISA INTERVIAL Chile, comprises the rehabilitation, improvement, and maintenance of 246 km of the East Pan-American Highway.
- This project is part of the Pan-American Highway (CP), Panama’s most important road, which is more than 750 km long.
- With this new concession, ISA reaches 1,106 km of roads under construction and operation in Chile, Colombia, and Panama.
ISA, through its company ISA INTERVIAL Chile, the main operator of interurban road concessions in that country and which has more than 20 years of experience in PPP projects, was awarded in public tender of the Ministry of Public Works of Panama, the rehabilitation, improvement, and maintenance of the East Pan-American Highway (CPE). This is the first project awarded under the country’s new Public-Private Partnerships Law, through which ISA will offer Panamanians its technical and financial capacity, experience, and good operational, sustainability, and corporate governance practices.
The East Pan-American Highway is a project covering 246 km on a single road that connects Panama City with the town of Yaviza in the Province of Darién.
The importance of this route also lies in the fact that it is part of the Pan-American Highway, Panama’s most important road, which is more than 750 km long.
The East Pan-American Highway is the main road that connects the Province of Darién with the rest of the country and one of the most important means of socioeconomic development in the region. The project will improve logistical communication to the east of the country, reinforce the safety and quality of the road, and promote agricultural and tourism development.
The project, with an investment estimated by the MOP of USD 283 million, will generate annual revenues in the operation and maintenance stage of up to USD 62 million. For its construction, operation, rehabilitation, and maintenance, a new company will be incorporated in Panama.
“This award represents a milestone in the growth and expansion of our Roads business unit in the region. We are making the commitments of the ISA2030 Strategy a reality by venturing into a new geography. With the East Pan-American Highway, we will contribute to the economic and social development of the region with infrastructure that boosts the economy, strengthens the territories, and builds social fabric,” said Sebastián Castañeda Arbeláez, Chief Road Concessions Officer of ISA.
About ISA’s Roads business unit
ISA, through its company ISA INTERVIAL Chile, is the largest concessionaire of interurban roads in Chile with 553 km in operation and 161 km under construction (the latter includes the Santiago Orbital Sur Concession project, for which, in the last quarter of 2023, the best technical and economic bid was submitted). In Colombia, it is the concessionaire of the Cartagena-Barranquilla Coastal Route, with an operational length of 146 km. This portfolio has a new geography, Panama, with the 246 km long East Pan-American Highway project.
With this addition, ISA’s portfolio of road concessions amounts to 699 km in operation and 407 km under construction, for a total of 1,106 km of concessioned roads in Chile, Colombia, and Panama.
The Roads business unit plays a relevant role in ISA’s portfolio. In cumulative figures as of the third quarter of 2023 (9M23), it represented 19% of ISA’s operating revenues and 16% of EBITDA. It is projected that approximately 24% of total investment by 2030 will focus on this line of business. During this period, the company’s strategic plan includes investments of USD 12.5 billion for growth, of which approximately USD 2.9 billion are assigned to the Roads business unit.
