The Panama Canal story rumbles on. The latest news is that one member of the consortium working on the expansion, Italian building company Salini Impregilo, has waded in with a proposal that will keep work going – but would cost more than earlier bids. The consortium had threatened to stop work on January 20 unless it was paid $1.6bn for cost overruns. It then proposed putting up $100m if the canal authority found $400m for the funding shortfall. But the Italian company now appears keen to wrest control from its partners after it offered alternative solutions – but which could cost the authority $1bn.
By Alex Lennane