The Council of Ministers defined yesterday not to change the date of the auction of the second container terminal by the "strong interest" to ratify, at least three carriers in the last hours.
The government is betting that for next March 17 there will be more than one interested to stay with the award of the second container yard and so they decided not to change the original date and the conditions for competition, although in recent weeks appeared some doubts about the possibility of failure to present any company at all.
According to official sources commented Ministries of Economy and Transport, the portfolios involved in the issue, "agreed yesterday 100%" that they could not postpone the date of the auction because "it was necessary to give certainty" to outside investors. Moreover, "there is information that at least three companies have said in recent hours, to have a strong interest in participating in the auction," sources said.
Originally the ANP had a list of nine interests. But that was before the outbreak of the international crisis that left financial check to any of these lines.
The auction for the second container terminal will be on 17 March at 10am in the Montevideo Stock Exchange and has a base price of $ 1.2 million. For the auction of the first container terminal (MCT) Katoen Natie paid $ 17 million. Just today the company negotiated with the government to avoid an international trial on the grounds that the second terminal “affects" business structure.
Transport Minister, Enrique Pintado, said yesterday that the auction for a second container terminal does not harm the Investment Protection Treaty with Belgium and recalled that when it was auctioned no commitments were made not to build another.

(www.elpaís.com.uy and www.espectador.com, March 9, 2010)