Americas News
Widened Panama Canal "Will be Working" in January 2016
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) says the canal will have new locks working on schedule, despite a recent labour strike, Reuters reports.
"In January 2016 the widened canal will be working," Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano told reporters.
"We have already completed between 75 and 76 percent" of the engineering project.
A construction union went on strike in April, demanding higher wages and halting work on projects across the country, including the canal expansion.
Work on the canal, which had already been delayed several times, restarted when the strike ended on May 8.
The expansion involves the construction of a third set of locks, allowing larger ships to pass through the canal.
A dispute over a cost overrun between the ACP and the Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), which is handling the construction work, threatened to create more serious delays earlier this year, but the parties resolved the disagreement in March.
