The Ministry of Culture of Colombia under the new Government of President Iván Duque, has provisionally suspended for two months, the selection process for the salvage and rescue operation of the world’s richest shipwreck, the San José Galleon. This time he would dedicate to review the proposals when the last contract term expires on August 10 of this year.
Salvage under previous Government of Juan Manuel Santos
The previous government had the intention of awarding the contract to the company Maritime Archeology Consultants Switzerland AG, a decision criticized by academics who believe that the process was not being done with the necessary scientific rigor.
See also With public-private association the San José Galleon will be rescued
“The last deadline for the closure of the process was scheduled for today, August 10, 2018, however, in order to comply with the postulates of state procurement and have the time required to give a response to the background Applications received until August 9 of this year, the Ministry of Culture sees the need to temporarily suspend, for up to two (2) months, the end of the contracting process, “the ministry said.
This decision is taken after the government of Juan Manuel Santos reactivated on August 2 the contracting process of the public-private alliance to rescue the Galeón, which had also already been suspended on June 23.
This process had been asked for precautionary measures to suspend the actions taken by the National Government for its rescue, but the Court of Cundinamarca found that the process was in accordance with current regulations.
The Government of Santos assured that the salvage process of the San José Galleon would have a specialized team of first level and with a financing close to 70 million dollars.
According to the culture portfolio, the objective is the intervention, economic exploitation, preservation and disclosure of the finding of the San José galleon identified in the exploration stage. As well as the construction, operation and maintenance of the associated public infrastructure, which corresponds to a materials laboratory and a museum, in development of a cultural heritage project.
