Panama Canal expansion works halted over costs dispute
Talks with European consortium of contractors over US$1.6 billion cost over-runs break down with 30 per cent of the work still to be completed
Work on the ambitious Panama Canal expansion project has stopped after talks broke down on how to settle a dispute over US$1.6 billion in cost over-runs.
Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Quijano said the stoppage would give authorities time to analyse how to proceed on the project to widen the canal.
The Panama Canal Authority and the Spanish-led construction consortium leading the expansion blame each other for the over-runs. They were negotiating how to pay for the unplanned extra costs when talks broke down.
An agreement "is now no longer possible", Quijano said, adding that the consortium had ordered its employees to stop work.
Other foreign contractors and project managers had expressed an interest in completing the 30 per cent of work that remained on the third canal lock, according to canal officials, but Quijano declined to provide details, except to say that under no circumstances would a 2015 deadline to complete construction be pushed back.
