PANAMA CITY, March 22 (Reuters) – Spain's Acciona, Brazil's Construtora Norberto Odebrecht, and Italy's Impregilo lead three consortia that will be allowed to bid on a $1.5 billion contract to build a Panamanian subway, Panama's government said.

Bids to build a nine-mile (14 km) subway through Panama City will be due by March 31, the government said in a statement.

The exact target price for the contract has not been announced, but the finance ministry estimated the cost at $1.5 billion in February.

A winner could be announced in July and construction could begin before the end of this year, the government said.

Acciona subsidiary Acciona Infraestructuras leads the Cima consortium, which includes Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, as well as Mexico's Constructoras ICA and Spain's CAF .

Construtora Norberto Odebrecht leads the Linea Uno consortium, which includes Spain's FCC.

Impregilo's all-Italian consortium, Grupo Italiano Metro Panama, includes Astaldi and Ghella.