..while Santos runs out of money…

The companies are worried that the present financial chaos afflicting the port authority will prevent them from eventually being paid.

The company overseeing the dredging work, DTA Engenharia, claims to have been owed US$166,044 for at least two months. Indeed, in a contract worth US$622,044, DTA has so far only received US$157,741 of the agreed sum, although US$415,110 of the total is made up of labour costs and these need to be paid every Friday.

Dragaport, which is undertaking most of the front-line dredging, acknowledges that the port authority owes it US$2.07m from work that began in February, but has been told that resources are not currently available to pay it.

Codesp insists that there is no reason to be unduly concerned about future payments.