The Panama Canal on Wednesday set a target of no more than a week to reach a deal to jump-start a stalled multibillion-dollar expansion of the waterway amid a cost row, but its administrator said an agreement was falling into place.
Panama Canal Authority (PCA) head Jorge Quijano warned that failure to reach an agreement would leave no alternative but to complete the project without a consortium led by Spain’s Sacyr.
The builders stopped work early last week on doubling the canal’s capacity while a dispute rages over $1.6 billion (963.9 million pounds) in cost overruns and extra financing for the work, which is 70 percent done and due to be finished next year.