Construction Of The Fourth Bridge Over The Panama Canal Resumes At 100% After The Strike -

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) Construction work on the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal has resumed at 100% after several weeks of being affected by a union strike, Public Works Minister José Luis Andrade announced Thursday. “Starting this week, we're hitting the ground running. We were about 70% to 80% complete on Monday, and now we have 100%” of the project underway, the Public Works Minister told the media. The Panama Fourth Bridge (CPCP) consortium, comprised of China Communications Construction Company LTD and China Harbor Engineering Company LTD, had called on May 16 for“the entire Panamanian workforce-operational personnel, technical divisions, and subcontractors-to return to work as soon as possible” on the project, which is several years behind schedule due to design changes.

The original project, costing $1.42 billion and including vehicle access and Metro Line 3, was awarded to the Chinese consortium in 2018 by the government of Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) and was due to be completed in 2023. However, following a suspension of work due to a design change, work was resumed in March 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2028. The project is now 20% complete overall, said Minister Andrade, adding that the project must regain the“good pace” it was at before the strike that began on April 28“to continue carrying out the piloting, which is a very important phase in order to begin upward growth.” Regarding the status of the rest of the public infrastructure projects, Andrade stated that“practically all the projects are already working, over 95%,” and that he expects to close this week with 100% of them active.

The strike led by the Suntracs construction union“had a major impact nationwide, which we have been mitigating day by day. I think we have come out of this quite well, because in three weeks we have recovered everything,” he added. On April 28, Suntracs joined the indefinite strike declared on April 23 by the also leftist public sector teachers' union in rejection of several initiatives of the government of President José Raúl Mulino, including a social security reform already in effect. The strike, which has developed unevenly in both sectors and has generated violent clashes between protesters and police in Veraguas and Bocas del Toro, two of the country's ten provinces, continues, according to union leaders.

MENAFN23052025000218011062ID1109589379