BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The construction of the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal was started on December 4 (local time) in Panama City by a Chinese consortium formed by China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela attended the ceremony and officially offered the order of commencement to the consortium.
The Panamanian government confirmed the CCCC-CHEC consortium won the bid for the project of the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal on July 27, with a contract amount of 1.42 billion U.S. dollars.
The bridge has so far been the largest public engineering project won by Chinese enterprises and it’s expected to be completed in 2023.
It is a double-pylon steel cable-stayed bridge, with a main span of 510 meters, a clearance of 75 meters under bridge and a bridge deck width of 51 meters. It is a bridge for both railway and highway with six lanes in two ways and a designed service life of 100 years.
After completion, the bridge will help meet the growing transportation need in the area and benefit at least 2 million local people.
(Edited by Yang Qi, kateqiyang@xinhua.org)
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