Panama Canal Chief Alberto Aleman Zubieta said on Thursday that Panamanian workers need to boost the quality of their work in order to better handle the jobs following a planned canal expansion.

"We cannot work with carburetors when all of today's motors use fuel injection," Zubieta, administrator of the Panama Canal, told Panama's RPC radio.

He said the canal authority trained its workers daily, including the use of English, which was used to operate the canal's international call centers.

The chief said he might turn to overseas workers because sometimes local workers lacked the necessary training or interest in the work.

The Panama Canal Authority unveiled a plan on Monday to expand the canal, a shortcut waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The plan envisages widening the canal by adding a third system of locks so it can handle larger ships.

The 5.25-billion-U.S. dollar plan has won support from Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, but it also need the approval of parliament and a referendum before work can start.

The proposed expansion, projected to be completed in 2014, will be the largest public work carried out on the Panama Canal, which employs 9,000 people and yielded around 4.7 billion dollars for the Panamanian economy, directly and indirectly, between 2000 and 2005.

The 77-km canal, opened in 1914, plays a vital role in global trade as a link between Asia and the east coast of the United States and Europe.

Panama took over the administration of the canal on Dec. 31, 1999, the day when the U.S. ended its military presence in Panama.

Source: Xinhua