Concessioning of Puerto Rico''s Las Americas port (PLA) will go ahead, law firm Mayer Brown partner Joseph Seligman has said.
This is despite a September 11 deadline to finalise the contract passed without any official announcement, and neither party presented a contract to extend the official negotiation process, leading to speculation that talks had broken down.
Mr Seligman, who is overseeing the negotiations, said the talks are continuing and that prolonged negotiations are normal for such a large-scale project.
"If you look at other transactions, it takes a while to complete negotiations. In a sense these negotiations have progressed rather far since they originally started. There's also a new administration in Puerto Rico at the government level, which means new individuals are involved, and they have worked very hard to advance the negotiations," Mr Seligman said.
Local groups, however, are concerned the prolonged negotiations will delay the project thereby damaging the area's economy.
