Panama voted today in a referendum seen backing an ambitious $5.25 billion expansion plan to give its famous canal its biggest ever 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.
The expansion of the canal, which is one of the engineering wonders of the world and was opened in 1914, will create a jobs bonanza for Panama's 3 million people and boost economic growth, supporters say.
Critics warn the plan could bankrupt the small nation, which is already laden with huge debts and where most people live in poverty, if costs spiral. Taxpayers could be forced to pick up the tab and investors could lose money.
Long lines of voters formed on Sunday at polling stations across Panama City under the already stifling morning heat.
Wealthy Panamanians jumped out of shiny new vehicles and joined the lines in one upscale residential district where President Martin Torrijos was due to vote later. Torrijos' father, populist leader Gen. Omar Torrijos, helped clear the way in the 1970s for the canal's handover from the United States.
"This country needs this project to join the first world," said Joaquin Rodriguez, 48, a businessman wearing a green T-shirt, the color of the "yes" vote, to denote he supports the expansion.
Across the city in a more modest suburb, voters walked to cast their ballots in a school where palm trees waved in the grounds in a light breeze.