The state-owned Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said on Tuesday it had healthy finances and could pay for the expansion of the Panama Canal, a seven-year project with an estimated cost of 5.25 billion U.S. dollars.

The ACP was considering borrowing up to 2.3 billion dollars for the project, but it would not turn to international financial institutions for loans, the company's administrator general, Alberto Aleman, said.

Tolls charged on ships for using the canal, bringing in an estimated annual net income of 1.4 billion dollars, would allow the ACP to pay back the proposed debt within ten years, which would avoid adding to Panama's government debt, said Aleman.

Rodolfo Sabonge, ACP's planning and markets director, said that with a wider canal, the country's gross domestic product could double and reach 30 billion dollars by 2025.

Panama's president, Martin Torrijos, had voiced his support for the expansion plan, but it still has to be approved by a national referendum. Recent polls have shown that most Panamanians favor the expansion.

Once approved, the plan will be the largest expansion of the Panama Canal since its 1914 opening. Panama took over the administration of the canal on Dec. 31, 1999, the day when the U.S. military presence in Panama ended.

Source: Xinhua