Local communities that would need to leave their homes and relocate due to the Panama Canal’s plans to construct a $1.6 billion reservoir have filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court.
They claimed that the project to increase the number of vessel transits in the canal is not constitutional.
Per reports, around 2500 people will be impacted by the construction of the Rio Indio Reservoir.
The canal authority has said that there is a need to secure more water after drought forced it to decrease the number of ship crossings from spring 2023 to 2024.
Once the reservoir is built, it will increase the canal’s capacity by up to 15 ships per day during the dry season and also supply drinking water to 4.5 million Panamanian people.
Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida, the farmers’ group that filed the lawsuit, said most residents do not want to relocate, adding that the project violates the constitution on six grounds, including disregard for human life and environmental
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