No funds budgeted for 2021 start of fourth bridge

The long-awaited start of the construction of the fourth bridge across the Panama Canal will not take place in 2021 as there is no money in the budget says  Minister of Economy and Finance, Héctor Alexander.

No funds were included to carry out the mega-project that would facilitate travel to and from the interior of the country and create thousands of jobs

The project will move forward, Alexander said, mentioning the construction period, but without giving an exact date.

Alexander was questioned by the deputies in the National Assembly, during the discussion in the second debate of the general state budget for 2021.

The Minister of Public Works, Rafael Sabonge, said that “our position since the pandemic began has been that we must find a private financing scheme to be able to carry out the work. The past administration did not resolve the financing of this project ”.

Since  February, the Ministry of Public Works decided to separate the construction of the fourth bridge from the works of Metro line 3.

 In 2018, the companies China Communications Construction Company and China Harbor Engineering Company were awarded the work at a cost of 1,518 billion. Line 3, has a cost of $2,5 billion.