Construction Industry in Panama

Panamá / Puerto Rico 

CPM’s Experience in Panama 

September 12, 2012 

Confidencial: Propiedad de Caribbean Project Management


Panamá 

At the beginning of 

the century, 

Panama solidify its 

position on the 

region with the 

construction and 

opening of The 

Panama Canal as a 

logistical trade 

platform 

(passengers and 

cargo). Panama 

became the bridge 

of the world (now 

by land sea and 

air) 

The Ports of 

Panama (Colon 

and Balboa) 

· 

The Panama Canal 

· 

The Interoceanic 

Railway 

· 

Tocumen Airport 

HUB of the 

Americas. 

Confidencial: Propiedad de Caribbean Project Management 

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The Mega Projects at the Isthmus 

1800’s and 1900’s 



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The New Panama 


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Panama 

The Principal Economic Engine – The Panama Canal 

Areas of Advancement 


• New METRO Rail System and Metrobús Bus System 

• Highway Expansion Master Plan 

• Airport Expansions 

• Tocumen North Concourse – (12 new gates including 747 and 

A380 facilities) 

• Tocumen South Concourse – on design (22 new gates and well as 

additional facilities, hotel and parking) 

• Regional Airports (Rio Hato, Colon, etc.) 

• New Government Buildings (Financial Tower, New Convention Center, 

New Government City, etc.) 


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The Principal Economic Engine – The Panama Canal – (Cont.) 

Areas of Advancement 

• Hospitals (5 Regionals and New Medical Center City) 

• Commercial Expansion(Office Buildings and Shopping Malls) 

• Residential (City and Pacific Coast) 

• Panamá Pacifico 

• Ciudad de Saber 

• New Facilities for Parlatino and United Nations 

• New Sanitary and Potable Facilities for the country 


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Commercial Development 

Foto: Periodico Semanal El Visitante. Vol 17. Sept. 2011 


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Panama’s Technical Entities 


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Company Overview 

Puerto Rico 


Headquarters: 

• San Juan, PR 

International Office: 

• Panama City, Panama 

# of Employees: 

• Panama - 35 

• Puerto Rico - 190 

Total - 225 

(as of 8-20-2012) 


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CPM’s Expertise 


• An international Consulting Firm with full services capabilities in the 

Development, Planning, Program/Project Management, Construction 

Management, Facilities O&M and Technical Consulting Services with 21 years of 

experience 

• Ranked by the ENR among 2009’s Top 50 Program Management Firms in the USA 

• Ranked by the ENR among the Top 100 CM-for-fee firms in the USA for five (5) 

consecutive years 

• Recognized among the 20 th Best Employers in Puerto Rico on four (4) consecutive 

occasions 

• Member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Panama Green Building 

Council with LEED Accredited Professionals for Energy and Environmental Design 


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Diversified Experience 


• Infrastructure 

• Transportation 

• Correctional Facilities 

Juvenile (PPP) 

• Hospitals 

• Preservation of 

Historic Buildings 

• Pharmaceutical/ 

Industrial/ Biotechnology 

• Medical Devices 

• Commercial/ 

Retail 

• Banking 

• Educational Institutions 

Schools (PPP) 

• Residential 

• Hotel 

• Sports and Recreational 

Facilities 


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Why Panama? 

• Construction Boom 

• Business opportunity to deploy our services in an emerging market that 

craved the expertise 

• Stable political and economic environment 

• Similar culture 

• Availability of local professional in the engineering and architectural fields 


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When and How we establish our operation? 

• Our first step was the participation in a Commercial Venue like CAPAC, our initial 

group arrived by late 2007 

• Visit the market and make an assessment of opportunities 

• Study the market from a cultural and relationship perspective 

• Evaluate the legal structure to be used (S. A. vs. LLC) 

• Evaluate local law's and regulations of how to do our business in Panama. 

• We establish the operation starting on February 2008. 


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Initial CPM Objetives 


• To expand the Company’s services in a broader geographical and market 

segment. 

• To transfer knowledge and technological processes with the local sectors 

• Create a business with Panamanians Professionals 

• Establish our office as a HUB for the Americas. 

• Enrich our knowledge base with the Why’s, How’s, What’s, Whens and 

Where’s that other countries might offer. 


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Human Resources Challenge 

• We study the culture as well as the ways and means 

• You realized we needed to help our Ex-Pat employees in the 

development of: 

• Short Term Work 

• Long Term Work 

• Living in Panama 

• The “Conqueror Effect” 

• Need to mix Supervision and Mentoring 

• Visas, Taxes and Medical Insurance 

• We evaluated how different we make a project in Panamá vs. 

Puerto Rico 

• How we are going to manage the local employees? 


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Operational Challenges 


• Lack of recognition of what the company does and why it is 

done in a certain way (cost vs. added value concept) – (Man- 

Hours Example) 

• Establishing long term relationship with clients, many 

projects were, originally, one shot deal. (Contract Example) 

• How to insert the company among Panamanian Who’s Who 

• The expanse of the territory 


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WHO we are today? 


• We have a total of 35 employees, of which 30 are Panamanians 

• As of today, we have managed 12 construction management projects with a total 

investment factor of $200MM 

Torre V. 

Expansion of Business Park 

Costa del Este. 

MMG Tower 

New Office Headquarters for 

Morgan & Morgan 

Gerona Tower 


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New Challenges 

The competition is growing very rapidly from Europe and 

South America, this requires the reconfiguration and 

transformation of our services, we need to keep showing 

the clients and customers that our services, even though 

of its cost, are more of high value, mainly because on 

many occasions they pay for themselves. 

We need to proactively show our commitment to growth 

of the local market with the opportunity of creating a 

HUB of Panamanians that will transfer knowledge to 

their country and the Americas Region 


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Thanks 


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Construction Industry in Panama

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