A Spanish-led consortium charged with a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Panama Canal lock system has halted work after a disagreement over massive cost overruns in the project.
The BBC says the construction, known as Grupo Unido por el Canal (GUPC), announced that work had been stopped because it's owed $1.6 billion dollars for a project to build a third set of locks designed to handle bigger ships than can currently fit through the canal. The original price tag was set at $3.2 billion.
"While awaiting an agreement to enable the finalisation of construction, work has been suspended on the project," the consortium said in a statement.
The BBC says:
"The GUPC says the Canal Authority has also failed to pay an outstanding $50m bill, which would allow the companies to carry on the work in the short term."
"But the consortium said it would 'continue the efforts to find a joint solution and reach an agreement with the ACP.'"