Conajzar cancels Alto Paraná tender

The president of Paraguay’s national regulator Conajzar has confirmed the decision to cancel the tender for a casino licence in Alto Paraná.

José Antonio Ortiz Báez, the recently appointed head of Conajzar, stated that the regulator plans to hold a completely new tender for a licence in the department in 2019.
He explained that Conajzar had taken the decision during the first meeting of the evaluation committee which would oversee the tender after it had “determined that there was not enough time for the Commission to properly oversee the process”.
“We wanted greater participation by a larger number of people, which will ensure that there is additional transparency, and [that the tender] will take into account the interests of both the State and third parties,” he continued.
Three companies had submitted bids for the tender, Casinos Paraguayos SA, Antonio Aranda Encina, and LAGG Paraguay SA.
The tender was the first in the country since the cancellation of plans to build a casino resort in Ciudad del Este, the capital of the department, at the beginning of 2018.
In January, the previous president of Conajzar, Javier Balbuena, announced that the tender for a casino licence for an eleven-hectare site owned by the National Administration of Navigation and Ports (ANNP) had been called off.