Panamanian officials are optimistic about prospects for infrastructure development in the wake of the recently approved expansion of the Panama Canal. They include a number of projects tied to the expansion, and some secondary level jobs.
Speakers at the Oct. 26 U.S.-Panama Business Council’s meeting, in Washington D.C., said a strong GDP and increasing foreign investment have set the stage for a construction boom. H.E. Alejandro Ferrer, minister of commerce and industry, said Panama needs a major investment in infrastructure over the next several years. Fred Berger, senior vice president of Louis Berger Group, East Orange, N.J., says, “secondary economic activities” will be generated by the expansion of the canal and a boom in vertical construction. Nearly 60 major condominium projects are now under way along Panama’s waterfront, he says.