Leasing of Puerto La Union Under Consideration

The Salvadoran government has ruled out making another tender to grant the operation of the terminal and is preparing a bill so that it can be granted under the form of a lease.

The mistakes made when trying to put out to tender, repeatedly, the operation of Puerto La Union will not be repeated again, as now a proposal has been made to change the format under which the terminal operates from a concession to a lease arrangement  The Salvadoran government insists on finding a way for La Union to be operational, even though there is not enough maritime traffic to be served by this terminal and the one in Acajutla .

Elmundo.sv reports that "...The Technical and Planning secretary of the Presidency, Roberto Lorenzana said that the Executive Branch will promote to the Legislature  the Port Services Act which allows for operation of this terminal to be granted under a lease format. The official recalled that investors who initially showed interest in the project were not attracted to the idea of a concession of this port governed by the Law on Concessions, which establishes certain conditions and the payment of an initial fee and a defined cargo quota in a port with a minimum cargo handling and which is located in an 'inappropriate' place. "

In this regard, the executive director of Coexport, Silvia Cuellar, "... said although offering facilities will probably help attract investors, they are concerned that the discussion of what to do with the port is advancing slowly, while other terminals such as Puerto Cortes in Honduras and Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala are undertaking improvement projects to attract more cargo to their facilities. "

Source: Elmundo.su