Panama is working on a plan to expand the Panama Canal without building dams, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos Espino said on Tuesday.

A series of floodgates will be built in the project to allow the passage of vessels which are too large to squeeze through the canal, Economy Minister Ricaurte Vasquez said.

The Panama Canal Authority said a technical report of the program will be ready in March and then presented to the cabinet. More detailed studies on the floodgate system and how it will impact the canal will be needed, Vasquez added.

A complete plan will later be submitted to a referendum, the minister said.

Three options are under consideration in the feasibility studies, namely, building dams on the banks of the canal, deepening Lake Gatun and constructing pools in parallel with the floodgates.

Torrijos denied that a larger canal means farmers along the waterway will have to see their land flooded.

About 38 cargo ships pass through the Panama Canal every day, which links the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean at the narrowest point in Central America.

Around 60 percent of heavy cargoes bound from Asia for the eastern coast of the United States are delivered through the canal.

Shipbuilders build gigantic vessels which are too large to pass the canal, in a bid to cut transport costs.

Source: Xinhua