No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeA man a plan a canal panamaWork to resume Thursday on widening of Panama Canal

Work to resume Thursday on widening of Panama Canal

PANAMA CITY – Work to widen the Panama Canal will resume on Thursday, an official said, two weeks after the huge project was suspended over $1.6 billion in cost overruns.

Canal administrator Jorge Quijano told AFP that the consortium involved, Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), will “resume tomorrow morning as we develop an interim agreement.”

Work to expand the canal was suspended earlier this month by the GUPC consortium made up of construction companies Sacyr of Spain, Italy’s Salini-Impreglio, Belgium’s Jan de Nul and Constructora Urbana of Panama.

The dispute is over $1.6 billion in cost overruns in the project, the main part of which is to equip the canal with a third set of locks.

GUPC wants Panama to add that sum to the initial contract fee of $3.2 billion.

The century-old waterway handles five percent of global seaborne trade.

GUPC claims unforeseen geological difficulties have forced them to spend much more on cement than expected. They say that they based their estimates on data provided by the Canal Authority that were incorrect.

The canal expansion is one of the world’s most ambitious civil engineering projects and was due to be completed this year in time for the 100th anniversary of the fabled canal.

The original canal, built by the United States, mostly with workers brought in from the Caribbean, was opened in 1914.

Following the delay, the deadline for completing the work is now December 2015.

Trending Now

Honduras Reinstates Mask Mandate Amid Rise in Respiratory Illnesses

Honduran health officials have reinstated a nationwide mask mandate following a spike in respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, flu, and a fast-spreading Omicron subvariant known...

Panama Farmer Receives Land Title After 60-Year Wait at Age 109

A 109-year-old Panamanian farmer has received the land title for the property where he lives and works—six decades after first requesting it from the...

UN Denounces Guatemala Over ‘Inhuman’ Indigenous Evictions

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, called on the Guatemalan government on Friday to halt the “inhuman”...

Costa Rica Embraces IHRA to Combat Antisemitism in Region

Costa Rica has formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. This step positions the country as the sixth in...

Judicial Corruption Exposed in Costa Rica’s Latest Drug Bust

Costa Rican authorities took down a cocaine smuggling operation Tuesday that moved drugs from South America to the United States, with a judicial worker...

Can Costa Rica’s Blue Zone Preserve Its Longevity Legacy?

The Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica is recognized worldwide as one of the five blue zones, where people live beyond the age of 90...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica