Key Project İn Canal Expansion Gets New Chief

No reason has been given for the replacement of the man in charge of the $3.2 billion locks construction project of the canal expansion.

Antonio Zaffaroni, who has headed Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) since it was hired to design and build the third set of locks has lost his job to Bernando González, a Spanish engineer who was previously overseeing the construction of the locks on the Atlantic side of the Canal.

Zaffaroni's new role, if any, has not been defined.

La Prensa says that, according to sources in The Panama Canal Authority, the authority approved the change, defined as an internal administrative decision of the consortium.

The work, due for for completion in 2014 to allow for the official ceremonies 100 years after the original opening of the canal, is 12 percent complete. The overall project is 23 percent complete