Panama Progresses in
Canal Expansion
Some 40 percent of the
top of the Cerro Paraiso
hill has been removed to
make way for the
expansion of the Panama
Canal, the Panama Canal
Authority (ACP) said on
Monday.
The 136-meter-high hill
is now down to 84 meters
and 25 percent of its
rocks have now been
removed, the ACP said.
The project will take
away a total of 7.4
million cubic meters of
material.
Panama construction
company Constructora
Urbana (CUSA) has also
completed the cleaning
of a 146-hectare
military U.S. Army
firing range, destroying
600 bomb and mortar
remains. The range was
used from 1990 to 1999,
when the United States
handed control of the
canal to Panama.
Panama is spending 5.25
billion U.S. dollars on
the expansion which is
set to end in 2014.
The ACP also said it had
awarded two other
contracts, one to
Mexican-Panamanian
company Cilsa Minera
Maria to move a forest
in the area affected,
and the other to
Colombian company
Electrica deMedellin to
move 12 electricity
pylons.
The ACP plans to choose
the companies to build
the new canal's locks in
2009. The authority
estimates the whole
project will generate
30,000 jobs during 2006
to 2014.
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