Arequipa. After thirteen years of comings and goings, the concessionaire Angostura Siguas SA, made up of the company Cobra, unilaterally terminated the contract for the construction, operation and maintenance of Majes Siguas II, valued at US$ 655 million. With the approval of Addendum 13 in 2022, the agro-industrial project increased its cost by US$ 104 million.
Santiago Hernández Cataño, general manager of the concessionaire, communicated the decision in a new letter addressed to the regional governor Rohel Sánchez on September 1, one day after Sanchéz announced a arbitration of law against the transnational.”Considering the serious breaches attributable to the grantor, we are forced to make the decision to consider the causes for early termination as established (…) and therefore terminate the contract,” says part of the letter of Cobra.
The dealer’s version is that the Regional Government of Arequipa (GRA) “far from acknowledging its breaches (…) it has denied them.” Among the accusations is the non-delivery of the land for the works of the first and second phase (control of the project), not reviewing and approving new works, not hiring specialized supervision and others. The regional entity responded that the accusations are false and that there are no impediments for the works not to be reactivated.
In addition, the concessionaire questioned the breaches that the GRA blamed on it and described them as “artificial”. The private argues that the deadline to correct the observations was until August 31, after the expiration was activated to terminate the contract on June 22. Expired “the causes of early termination are configured,” he says.
Cobra also warns that it reserves the right to claim payment for damages caused in excess of US$ 200 million before the termination of the contract. Given the position taken, it asks the GRA to appoint a legal person to act as controller, to set a date for the delivery of all concession assets, to value the progress of works and the return of the amount of the guarantee of faithful performance .
It should be noted that the GRA delivered US$162 million to the concessionaire, but there is little progress on the project. In addition, it is blamed that Cobra failed to increase the guarantees that it demands today. The position of the GRA is that who does not want to comply with the contract is Cobra.
For the ex-manager Majes Autonomous Authority (Autodema), Isaac Martínez, with the unilateral resolution the international arbitration that Cobra will request is sung. “It smells like arbitration that can last for years,” he said. The next thing, he indicated, is to carry out an inventory of the work balance together with appraisals.
Source: Larepublica
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