Panama drums up US$460m to expand canal
Panamanian lawmakers on Saturday approved a US$460 million budget increase for 2008 as part of a US$5.25 billion plan to expand the Panama Canal.
Legislators agreed to increase the Panama Canal authority's 2008 budget by almost 30 per cent to US$2.02 billion, with more than 70 per cent of that coming from increased canal transit tolls.
Tomas Altamirano, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party, said the agreement constituted the first budget for the expansion of the Panama Canal.
Expansion of the canal, which carries about 4 per cent of world trade, is scheduled to begin in August.
Panama - which hopes the canal expansion will double the 80km waterway's capacity - expects the take from tolls in 2008 to increase by some US$340 million in 2008 compared with this year.
Panama is aiming to build a third lane of locks to increase the canal's capacity and allow larger ships to travel between the Pacific and Caribbean.
It hopes to have the third lane operational in time for the canal's centennial in 2014. The canal was built by the United States and handed over to Panama in 1999.
Legislators agreed to increase the Panama Canal authority's 2008 budget by almost 30 per cent to US$2.02 billion, with more than 70 per cent of that coming from increased canal transit tolls.
Tomas Altamirano, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party, said the agreement constituted the first budget for the expansion of the Panama Canal.
Expansion of the canal, which carries about 4 per cent of world trade, is scheduled to begin in August.
Panama - which hopes the canal expansion will double the 80km waterway's capacity - expects the take from tolls in 2008 to increase by some US$340 million in 2008 compared with this year.
Panama is aiming to build a third lane of locks to increase the canal's capacity and allow larger ships to travel between the Pacific and Caribbean.
It hopes to have the third lane operational in time for the canal's centennial in 2014. The canal was built by the United States and handed over to Panama in 1999.