Men work during a test of the Cocoli Locks in Panama City on June 20, 2016. The canal's expansion project will be inaugurated on June 26. (AFP Photo)
Panama City:
Panama's efforts to polish its tarnished image in the wake of the "Panama Papers" scandal are set to get a big boost this weekend when it inaugurates a wider canal, the waterway's administrator said.
"We are showing the world the real face of Panama and that will no doubt have a positive effect on the image of the country during these adversities we are going through," Jorge Quijano, head of the Panama Canal Authority, said in an interview.
On Sunday, the Central American nation is to officially open its expansion work on the century-old Panama Canal after years of costly work with a ceremony featuring regional leaders and foreign dignitaries.
The project ran hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and two years past deadline, taking nine years to complete at a cost of more than $5.5 billion. It required the construction of new locks, enlarged access and a deepening of the canal bed.
Enough metal was used over the nine years to build 20 Eiffel Towers.
The pharaonic task of broadening the 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal, which is sometimes called the eighth modern wonder of the world, is a source of pride for Panama.
But April's "Panama Papers" revelations -- which exposed how some of the world's wealthy and influential stashed assets in offshore companies thanks to the work of a Panama-based law firm -- have cast a long shadow over the country's image.
"We have expanded the wonder. It's a major step for a small country and that fills us with pride to have achieved that," Quijano said.
"We are showing the world the real face of Panama and that will no doubt have a positive effect on the image of the country during these adversities we are going through," Jorge Quijano, head of the Panama Canal Authority, said in an interview.
On Sunday, the Central American nation is to officially open its expansion work on the century-old Panama Canal after years of costly work with a ceremony featuring regional leaders and foreign dignitaries.
The project ran hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and two years past deadline, taking nine years to complete at a cost of more than $5.5 billion. It required the construction of new locks, enlarged access and a deepening of the canal bed.
Enough metal was used over the nine years to build 20 Eiffel Towers.
The pharaonic task of broadening the 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal, which is sometimes called the eighth modern wonder of the world, is a source of pride for Panama.
But April's "Panama Papers" revelations -- which exposed how some of the world's wealthy and influential stashed assets in offshore companies thanks to the work of a Panama-based law firm -- have cast a long shadow over the country's image.
"We have expanded the wonder. It's a major step for a small country and that fills us with pride to have achieved that," Quijano said.
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