Exciting Times.

Panama’s railway, inaugurated in 1855, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. A lot has changed since Mark Twain, who travelled on the railway, wrote an article for the Chicago Republican in 1868. He described his train journey across Panama and how he spent two or three hours travelling through “a tangled wilderness of tropical vegetation”. Today’s railway works alongside the Panama Canal, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.

If a referendum is held and the country’s voters agree, then work will commence on Panama’s canal which will allow ships over 32.5 metres wide and with a dead-weight exceeding 80,000 tonnes to use it. Widening of the waterway by building new locks would perhaps double the size of the ships that can be accommodated. One study reveals that the share of the world sea cargo that transits the canal has fallen from 5.6 per cent in 1970 to 3.4 per cent in 2004. The whole project, unfortunately, is presently embroiled in a mixture of politics and social economics and no one is sure what the outcome will be. Critics abound and there is even one controversial school of thought which argues that Panama could profit more from selling its fresh water than by operating a canal. It is true that each ship requires 200 million litres of fresh water to operate the locks but it is also a commercial reality that the canal means that ships do not have to make a two-to-three week detour around South America that would have a significant impact on the price of goods for everyone. The debate between the project’s supporters and dissenters, as well as the political and social issues, could mean that even hoping for a decision in 2006 might be being too ambitious.

Meanwhile, the second bridge to be built over the Panama Canal at a cost of $100,000 million, and called the Centenary Bridge, is a fine sight. It has just opened and promises to contribute significantly to both the residential and commercial development of the former Canal Zone, once a fiefdom of the United States of America. The problem is that the gleaming new suspension bridge is close to an old US military weapons testing range which the Panamanian government says remains unsafe because the US military has failed to meet its obligation to clear the area of any potential unexploded bombs, mortar rounds and artillery shells. The presence of access roads and plans for low income housing near the Centenary Bridge makes the situation a precarious one and talks continue between both countries.

Panama’s economy continues to move apace and positive, exciting times surely lie ahead.

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