Panama’s president warned on Thursday he would visit Europe to force a consortium to drop a threat to suspend expansion work on the Panama Canal, as a row over a US$1.6 billion cost overrun escalated.
A Spanish-led construction group has threatened to halt the massive project within three weeks if the Panama Canal Authority fails to pay the extra costs, but Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said he expected the Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium to finish the work “without any setbacks, because these cost overruns are irresponsible.”
“I will go to Spain and Italy to demand these governments take moral responsibility for what happened, because it is not possible that a company put huge extra charges on expansion work,” he said.
Martinelli did not put a date on his trip.
Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Quijano insisted the waterway is working as usual, despite the threat.
“The important thing now for the international maritime community is that the canal continues to operate efficiently and effectively,” Quijano said.
In a letter to canal authorities on Monday, Spanish builder Sacyr, the consortium’s leader, gave a 21-day deadline before suspending its US$3.2 billion contract to expand the capacity of the canal, notably by installing a third set of locks.
The project aims to make the 80km waterway big enough to handle new cargo ships that carry 12,000 containers.
The overall cost of the project has been estimated at US$5.2 billion.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
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