MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Panama unveils plan to double the Canal's capacity

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is recommending the building of a new lane along the Panama Canal that would double capacity at an estimated cost of 5.25 billion US dollars.

The ACP says the expansion "will be paid entirely by users of the canal through a graduated toll system".

The recommendation was formally put to the Panamanian Government in a set piece last week and according to a public opinion poll published Sunday in the country's main newspaper "La Prensa", 57% of the population support the project.

The authority said after several years of analyzing and reviewing hundreds of studies and projections, it is recommending the expansion of the Panama Canal.

"Our vision is clear ? this project will be for the benefit of the people of Panama and world trade.

"Panama's geographic location is its destiny ? we aim to be at the centre of global trade and become a great maritime hub. The time is right and the time is now," ACT CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta said.

"Panama has been successful in managing and operating the canal since the US handover in 1999. We have broken several records and have set the bar higher for efficiency, safety and reliability, while at the same time bringing more benefits to our country, he said.

However the survey from Dichter & Neira showed that in spite of a majority support for the project, those against it have risen from 18.9% in April to 27.2% in May.

If a referendum on the project goes ahead, figures from the first week of May indicate that 57.3% of Panamanians would support the expansion project

But the survey also shows that the Yes vote is stagnant, "having risen just one point from April to May", and the NO vote increased almost 50%. Similarly those undecided dropped from 25 to 15.5%.