Expansion Work Begins On
Panama Canal
(EFE) Expansion work on a third set of locks
on the Panama Canal has officially begun.
'Today, a new future begins for the
country,' said Panama President Ricardo
Martinelli Wednesday at a ceremony jointly
presided over by Martinelli, Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish
Deputy Premier Manuel Chaves.
The function was also attended by the
presidents of Colombia, Guatemala and
Honduras.
The project is being carried out by Grupo
Unidos por el Canal, a consortium led by
Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso construction
company.
The canal, designed in 1904 for ships with a
267-metre length and 28-meter beam, is too
small to handle the 'post-Panamax' ships
that are three times as big, making it
necessary to expand by building the new set
of locks.
The Panama Canal Authority, a government
agency that manages the waterway, wants to
double transit capacity.
The 80-km canal, which currently handles
about five percent of world trade, has been
under Panamanian management since Dec 31,
1999, when the US surrendered it in keeping
with the 1977 Torrijos-Carter treaties.
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