Sun, Aug 17, 2014 page7

• Panamanians party as canal work delayed

  SOME SNAGS: At an event on Friday, canal workers waved flags, a school band played and there were fireworks and a concert, as well as a 226 kilogram cake

  • AP, PANAMA CITY
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  It was supposed to be a grand celebration of the engineering triumph that forged a nation.

  Instead, the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal’s opening on Friday was marred by doubts about the country’s ability to harness the full benefits of a multibillion-dollar expansion beset by cost overruns, strikes and the threat of competition from rival projects.

  The latest setback in the canal’s expansion came in May, when about 5,000 workers walked off the job for two weeks as part of a strike over wages by construction workers nationwide. That followed a two-week stoppage in February in a dispute over US$1.6 billion in extra costs between the canal’s administrator and the European contractor building a third new set of locks.

  

  Workers stand beside a cake replicating the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks in Panama City on Friday. The cake was part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the waterway’s opening.

  Photo: AFP

  Because of the interruptions and overspending, the original completion date of October has been pushed back by 14 months, and analysts say more delays can not be ruled out.

  The construction of the 77km ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama a century ago transformed international trade, greatly reducing travel times between the Atlantic and the Pacific by eliminating the need for ships to go around the tip of South America. The construction claimed the lives of an estimated 30,000 workers, many from diseases like malaria and yellow fever.

  As part of the US$5.25 billion expansion project, wider locks with mechanical gates are to reduce congestion and be able accommodate post-Panamex vessels, which are as long as three football fields and have the capacity to carry about 2.5 times the number of containers than held by ships currently using the canal.

  Canal administrator Jorge Quijano acknowledges he would have liked to finish the expansion in time for the centennial. “But we knew from the beginning a project as complex as this wouldn’t necessarily be done” on time, he said.

  Not all of the people affected are as understanding.

  President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) complained about the delays during a recent visit to Panama, saying they affect his country’s trade with the US. Two major cargo shippers, Denmark’s Maersk and Taiwan’s Evergreen, have already rerouted part of their operations, depriving the canal of about US$80 million a year, Quijano says.

  When funding for the expansion was approved by a referendum in 2006, its completion was envisioned as a coming out party for Panama, a chance to showcase the country’s pro-business credentials and role as a linchpin of global commerce.

  Backers portrayed the vote as a bet on the future of Panama’s children in a country where poverty still affects a third of the population, a stain on what is arguably Latin America’s most-thriving economy. For the most part, the canal has blossomed under Panamanian management, contributing more than US$8.5 billion in Panamanian government revenue since the US handed it over on Dec. 31, 1999.

  However, competition is lurking. Egypt is embarking on an expansion of the Suez Canal, and a Chinese firm was recently awarded a contract to build a waterway through Nicaragua, the path initially favored by 19th century US engineers. While just a threat on paper for now, Panamanian authorities have responded with the possibility of digging a fourth set of locks to maintain dominance.

  Reflecting the more subdued mood, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela opposed suggestions that the centennial be declared a national holiday.

  “The anniversary is best celebrated by working,” he told journalists recently. “Panama already has plenty of free days.”

  He later paid homage to the men who died working on the canal, laying flowers at the tombs of two Panamanian laborers.

  In a low-key ceremony on Friday at the Miraflores locks, about 100 people, including canal workers, showed up to wave flags and greet cargo ships as they passed by. A school band played patriotic songs.

  Panamanians celebrated the canal’s anniversary with an evening of fireworks and a free concert by salsa crooner Ruben Blades. A 226kg cake was served to hundreds of VIPs.

  Descendants of French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, the canal’s flamboyant first developer, attended. So did relatives of former US president Theodore Roosevelt, whose enthusiasm for the “big ditch” spurred the isthmus to proclaim its independence from Colombia in 1903 and sign a treaty granting perpetual control of the future waterway and adjacent 1,424.5km2 canal zone to the US.

  Nostalgia for those earlier days runs deep in Paraiso, a village on the canal’s Pacific Ocean entrance where blue US mailboxes recall a vibrant, bygone era when it was part of the canal zone.

  While Panama has prospered in the past decade, taxi driver Carlos Bennett said the benefits have not been shared widely. Like many Panamanians, he is counting on the canal expansion to lift the nation’s welfare, but is concerned that the recent stumbles could backfire.

  “The anniversary should’ve been the moment to celebrate the expansion project, that all of Panama needs urgently,” said Bennett, the grandson of a canal worker who emigrated from the British Virgin Islands. “We can’t afford the luxury of looking like we’re incapable to the rest of the world.”
• Most Popular

  • 1

    TSMC and Nvidia team up on silicon photonics, CEO Jensen Huang says

  • 2

    Nvidia CEO says its advanced packaging technology needs are changing

  • 3

    Master sergeant killed after being sucked into engine

  • 4

    TikTok could be affecting views of young Taiwanese

  • 5

    Dozens injured after quakes damage buildings