[Enclosure]
Text of Note To Be Addressed to the Panamanian
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Excellency: Referring to the Legation’s
related note of . . . . . I have the honor to inform Your Excellency
that I am directed to make the following explanations regarding
further cooperative construction work along the route of the
projected Inter American Highway through your country:
It is understood that when Mr. E. W. James of the Bureau of Public
Roads of my Government was in Panama some months ago to discuss with
the appropriate authorities of your Government further cooperative
bridge construction, he indicated that he believed his Government
would be able to cooperate with yours in the construction of one
additional bridge, that over the Platenar River, on the conditions
which have governed in the cooperative construction of the Chiriquí
Bridge. It is also understood that the interested officials of Your
Excellency’s Government, on the occasion of a subsequent visit of
Mr. James, expressed a desire to change the conditions of
cooperation so that three bridges desired by them, namely, those
over the Platenar, the Chirigagua, and the San Cristobal Rivers,
could be erected and that they consequently proposed that my
Government furnish only the structural and reinforcing steel needed
for the three bridges and that their Government assume
responsibility for all transportation from shipside to the bridge
sites, for furnishing all needed cement, for the construction of the
substructures, and for the erection of the superstructures of the
specified three bridges.
I am instructed to inform Your Excellency that careful consideration
has been given to the matter by the appropriate officials of my
Government and that the alternate proposal referred to above is
acceptable to my Government.
Accordingly, I have been directed to state that my Government is
prepared to cooperate in the construction of the three bridges over
the Platenar, the Chirigagua, and the San Cristobal Rivers, in the
manner specified by the Panamanian authorities. That is, my
Government will furnish the steel needed for the three bridges, and
the Government of Panama will assume responsibility for all
transportation from shipside to the bridge sites, for furnishing all
needed
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cement, for the
construction of the substructures, and for the erection of the
superstructures of the specified three bridges. It is understood
further that no customs charges shall be levied on any of the
materials supplied by my Government and that the conditions under
which my Government agreed to cooperate in the construction of the
Chiriquí Bridge shall govern in the construction of the three
bridges specified above; except insofar as they are modified by the
present proposal.
If the proposal outlined immediately above is acceptable to your
Government, I would appreciate having you address to me a note in
reply stating that fact. On receipt of your reply I shall be pleased
to forward a copy of it to the Department of State of my Government.
As soon as your statement that the proposal is acceptable to your
Government shall have reached the Department of State, the necessary
steps will be taken to carry out my Government’s part of the
proposed construction work.
