Panama's wider canal ready for business: consortium

(MENAFN- AFP) Panama's newly widened canal is ready to take bigger cargo ships and will start during an inaugurating ceremony on June 26, the consortium behind the project said Wednesday.

Testing of new locks following the nine-year construction work is complete and "the project is ready to receive the first ships, proving that it works to perfection," the chief executive of the Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium, Giuseppe Quarta, said in a statement.

Work to broaden the century-old canal -- originally started by the French and then built by the United States -- began in 2007.

Initially set to have been completed two years ago, the project was plagued by cost overruns, labor disputes and lawsuits.

The original budget of $5.25 billion is believed to have been exceeded by $3.4 billion.

Fissures were also found in one of the widened locks last year, requiring GUPC's testing.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela is set to lead the ceremony declaring the expanded canal officially open. Seventy heads of state and government have been invited.

A Chinese freighter will be the first to navigate the wider locks.

With the inauguration, the 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal will accommodate a much bigger class of cargo ship known as Neopanamax, or New Panamax, which carries nearly three times as many containers as the Panamax ships currently sent through the passage.

That will mean the canal's annual income from shipping fees will also triple from the current $1 billion.