Panama to back plan to widen canal

PANAMA voted yesterday in a referendum backing an ambitious €4.2 billion expansion plan to give its famous canal its biggest face-lift in a move the government hopes will lift the nation out of poverty.

Opinion polls ahead of the simple Yes or No plebiscite showed more than two-thirds of voters supported the project that will double the canal capacity and allow mammoth modern cargo ships to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Voting was set to conclude late last night.