Last Friday, and after a visit to the country for more than a week, the North American Army Engineers presented to the Government of Guatemala a plan with four actions to follow to design and build infrastructure that allows to expand the capacity of the Quetzal port .
At the end of the meeting, President Arévalo proclaimed on social networks that “the expansion of the Quetzal port is and will be a reality.” Free press and news Guatevisión had access to information on the agreement reached, although the official announcement and details of the agreed will be announced today by the Executive, according to the personnel of the press department of the Executive Agency.
The project was presented by the United States Army Engineers, Usace, uses for its acronym, and accepted by the Executive Agency. The sources of the Executive explained that the US military presented an offer and understanding document to Guatemala which establishes the phases, personnel, technical capabilities and amounts for the modernization of the Quetzal port.
The sources confirmed that the guarantor of the design, formulation, supervision and execution of the work would be Usace, which may hire companies or suppliers to execute the project, which will be paid by the state of Guatemala directly to the US army.
As agreed, it was determined that the expansion and improvement of the port could begin its construction between November and December 2027, prior to the technical studies of the current infrastructure of the port. In total, Guatemala’s government must invest at least US $ 600 million, equivalent to a Q 4,600 million.
The negotiation was endorsed during the visit to Guatemala of the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio on February 4 and 5, occasion in which it was reported that there would be cooperation to develop port infrastructure projects, airports and railways . However, the visit that ended on Friday did not touch other issues than the port facility of the Guatemalan Pacific, according to the sources.
Project will mark two priorities
The agreement has the first priority to design and improve the current operation of the port.
The second priority is a long -term vision for the jetty to meet the maritime demands in the future and have a better connectivity with the national supply chain, including a railway expansion. Thus it is also intended that the port has the ability to design boat forecasts.
Initially the Arévalo government undertakes to give a contribution of more than US $ 9.9 million that must be disbursed between April and May of this year. This payment will allow technicians to begin their work divided into the four agreed phases.
In the first phase the United States will provide services from all engineering related to the construction, design, navigation and transportation within the Quetzal port. The objective during this period is to expand the existing infrastructure that includes a deepening of the navigation channel so that larger vessels can circulate, in addition the extension of beating zone will be made to host mixed use vessels and containers; This part would be made in bingers 5,6,7,8. Reconstruction, terminals and administrative facilities is also expected.
For the second stage, feasibility studies will be developed that allow expanding to the port in its operation capacity. Then in stage 3, the United States agreed to implement training to Guatemalan personnel on port engineering.
In the last USACE stage will designate high -level specialized personnel to guarantee the execution of the work and the good use of the funds for the agreement.
Financing source
The Government has not yet specified what the source of financing will be to develop the project, even so, the fees that must be paid exceed US $ 63 million, Q 490 million. The initial payment will allow the technicians to implement the first studies, but by June 2025, another disbursement of US $ 50 million is scheduled, subsequently other contributions are expected in 2026 and 2027.
As for the executing company, it will be the body of engineers of the United States Army who must choose the contractor that will do the construction. At that time the studies by Usace will have been developed, so the construction could begin after half a year of 2027.