Canal Authority $2 billion rescue plan

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) projects an investment plan that adds about $2 billion in the next five years to add new water sources that guarantee waterway operations and human consumption needs.

On the road map is the Bayano reservoir as the first short-term alternative that will allow the water to be piped and transported to Lake Alajuela. However, taking this step is conditioned on the negotiation between the State and AES, a concessionaire of the Bayano hydroelectric plant, which includes the reservoir reports La Prensa.

Meanwhile, the Canal has already made the decision to make soil drilling in the arm of the Trinidad River, to explore the construction of small reservoirs within Gatun Lake. This is an alternative that, in addition to damming freshwater, will allow controlling the navigation channel to increase the draft, on request, in the dry season.

The Canal administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, told La Prensa that the Canal has the capacity to do these projects, but changes will be required in the planned projects, to give rise to a five-year investment plan of about $2 billion for water.