• AMOUNT OF MATERIALS REMOVED EQUIVALENT TO A 21-STORY BUILDING
  • EXPANSION PROGRAM AND CANAL OPERATIONS AT WORK DAY AND NIGHT

PANAMA CITY, Panama, April 21, 2008 – Paraiso (Paradise) Hill, located north of the Pedro Miguel Locks in the Canal’s Pacific side, has been excavated from its original 136 meters height to 72.5 meters, the height equivalent to a 21-story building, since the Expansion Program began in September 2007. The excavation of Paraiso Hill is part of the first contract for the dry excavation of the Pacific locks access channel. This new channel will link a new, third set of locks on the Pacific end of the Canal with the existing Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch in the Panama Canal). Since last December, Panamanian company Constructora Urbana, S.A. has been working 24 hours a day to advance this part of the contract, which will ultimately reduce the hill to 46 meters.

About the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
The ACP is the autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating and maintaining the Panama Canal. The operation of the ACP is based on its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. For more information, please refer to the ACP’s Web site: http://www.pancanal.com/.