MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Panama set to begin $5bn project to widen the Canal to increase its capacity

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and former US President James Carter lead Monday the starting ceremony for the modernization of the inter-oceanic canal zone.

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and former US President James Carter lead Monday the starting ceremony for the modernization of the inter-oceanic canal zone. Carter negotiated and signed on September 7, 1977 with Omar Torrijos, father of the current president, a group of accords to recover national sovereignty on the then denominated Panama Canal Zone and seaway. This amazing work began in 1903 and opened in 1914, one of the most important trade routes of the planet, but it has also been a central theme of a conflict between Panama and the United States. In virtue of the Torrijos-Carter agreements, the Panama Canal Zone passed to control of the Panamanians on the last day of 1999. The expansion of ships made too small the ingenious complexes of locks that allow two-way passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The three new complexes of locks, which will make possible the movement of long and wider ships, will be built by Panama at $5.2 billion. El Salvador's President Elias Antonio Saca, Colombia's Alvaro Uribe and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega are due to attend the meeting. According to official estimates, it is expected that some 40,000 people attend the ground breaking, as a homage to several generations of Panamanians who contributed to rescuing national sovereignty.