At an event held at the headquarters of the Panama City Metro Secretariat, Metro executives told Mr Blanco of the importance of this project, the first in Central America, for the city's communications. The final goal is to modernise Panama City's transport system and broadly replace the bus system, whose fleet has been operating for over 40 years. This project is part of the Panamanian government's 2010-2014 Strategic Plan, which has a budget of 9.6 billion dollars (around 7.1 billion euro) for public works.

FCC Chairman Baldomero Falcones gave Mr Blanco a detailed overview of the project, which is worth more than 1 billion euros; the line will be 14 kilometres long and include 11 stations, some above ground. In its initial phase, the metro line will have capacity for 15,000 people per hour each way, which will increase to 40,000 by 2035. Line 1 will run from north to south, linking the city centre with the suburbs in the east, which are lacking in public transport options at present.

Business hub/platform for development
The Panama Metro contract adds to FCC's extensive track record in Panama, where the company has located the hub of its business development efforts in the region.

In early 2010, the Panama Canal Authority awarded FCC Construction, in a joint venture with two Central American companies, the contract to build a new access channel from the Pacific to the Panama Canal as part of the project to build the third set of locks at Miraflores. That contract is worth 187 million euro and the construction period is 43 months.

The project calls for the construction of a 3.7-kilometre long 200-metre wide channel connecting to the Pacific locks and includes the excavation, transport and disposal of approximately 27 million cubic metres of mostly rock.

FCC Construction's other projects in Panama include the design, construction and environmental impact surveys of the freeways leading to the second bridge over the Panama Canal and various road upgrade, maintenance and widening projects.

In March, Panama's Health Ministry awarded FCC Construction the contract to design, build, equip and finance the Luis Chicho Fábrega Hospital in Veraguas province, near its capital, Santiago, worth 92.7 million euro.

Metros around the world
FCC Construction has completed several railway projects and has extensive subway-building experience both in and outside Spain. The company participated in the construction of the Lisbon Metro (Alameda-Expo section) and in the extension of line 2 of Athens metro, as well as the construction of new stations there (Periteri and Anthoupoli).

Through Alpine, its Austrian subsidiary, FCC is currently building the metro line between New Delhi and Indira Gandhi International Airport and two new sections of the Singapore metro.

The company was recently awarded the contract to build the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) in Canada, which includes construction of the North tunnels and the Highway 407 Station and is worth 304 million euro.

FCC also built extensions to Madrid Metro, including line 10, line 8 (from Barajas to T4), and line 3 (from Legazpi to Villaverde), as well as sections I and III of Metrosur. In Barcelona, the company built several sections of metro lines 2, 5 and 9. It is currently building the metro in Málaga, and extending line 2 of the metro in Madrid and line 9 in Barcelona.