Panama Canal Expansion Now 20% Complete
The project to expand the Panama Canal has advanced by some 20%, and contracts worth a total of more than $4 billion dollars, of the estimated total of $5.25 billion, have been awarded according to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). The ACP administrator Alberto Zubieta German, introduced the financial report to the Commission on Public Infrastructure and Canal Affairs of the National Assembly. The modernization process includes the widening and deepening of the access channels ships use to enter the Panama Canal from both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the deepening of the 13 kilometers of the Gaillard Cut that is considered to be the most narrow part of the waterway. The project also includes the construction of a new interconnection channel to access the new locks from the Pacific side with an approximate length of 6.1 kilometers, and another new access on the Atlantic side as well.
The largest segment of this multi-billion dollar mega project is the construction of two new locks, which will be located at the entrance to both Pacific and Atlantic, to allow for the passage of the giant PostPanamax ships. The corporation responsible for building these locks is Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), which is led by the Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso and is accompanied by Italy's Impregilo, the Panamanian company Constructora Urbana, and Belgium's Jan de Nul. This business group was awarded the work for $3.118 billion dollars and due to the magnitude of the locks project they expect to hire about 7,000 people over the next three years.
According to estimates by the ACP with the completion of the expansion works in 2014, after seven years of continuous work, the new Panama Canal will double its capacity from 300 million to 600 million tons annually. During the presentation of the report, Aleman Zubieta also announced that on 29 April 2011 they will be opening the proposals, delivered in a sealed envelopes, to hire the company for the design of a third bridge over the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal operations during fiscal 2010, ended with toll revenues of $1.482 billion dollars, an increase of 3% over 2009 in which they received $1.43 billion dollars. (La Prensa)
