TBMs to build a tunnel under the Canal and connect Metro Line 3 will arrive in 13 months

A 5% advance, presents the construction of Line 3 of the Metro, revealed this morning the Minister of Public Works Rafael Sabonge, who made a tour in the West area to verify how the projects in this sector are advancing.

According to the minister, they are working on the piles of the stations along the track and on the movement of earth from the train yard, which will be located in Ciudad Futuro. He stated that the tunnel under the Panama Canal will also be carried out by the Korean consortium HPH Joint Venture, in charge of the construction of line 3 of the Metro towards Panamá Oeste, due to the fact that they plan to complete both projects at the same time.

Sabonge also said that they are only waiting for the arrival of the tunnel boring machines to start the drilling work. These teams will arrive in the country in 13 months and once the work begins, the works will be completed in 24 months, encouraging news for the residents of the western area, since initially it was said that this tunnel would take about 5 years to be built, that is 64 months.

He specified that the transfer of the construction of the tunnel to the HPH Joimt Venture consortium will represent an increase in the budget for the work, however he assured that this is within the parameters allowed by the Public Procurement Law and it is also expected that the construction of the fourth bridge over the Canal suffers a budget reduction which would help to equate the new expense with line 3.