Panama. The consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), in charge of the expansion works of the Panama Canal, announced the start of operational tests of the new locks that will allow the passage of vessels from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific from April 2016.
"We are already in the final stretch of what is the expansion of the Panama Canal," the administrator of the road, Jorge Quijano, told reporters after making official the beginning of the flooding of the new route.
"The flooding is the beginning of the water testing phase, while the minor buildings and urbanization are completed. It is the beginning of the end of the work on this mega-project," José Peláez, GUPC's project director, told AFP news agency.
The flood began after the opening of five valves that, with 50,000 cubic meters of water per hour, will flood the chambers of the Agua Fría locks, in the province of Colón.
The consortium, made up of the Spanish Sacyr, the Italian Salini Impregilio, the Belgian Jan de Nul and the Panamanian Constructora Urbana, will carry out electromechanical tests with the eight rolling gates of the lock, in addition to checking that there are no water leaks.
