PANAMA CANAL OFFICIAL CONFIRMS NO 1988 TOLL RISE
Panama Canal toll charges will not rise
in the year to end-September 1988, despite last October's
landslide which dumped 0.5 mln cubic yards of debris into the
waterway, Canal Commission Administrator Dennis McAuliffe said.
    He told a press conference that in confirming the
Commission's earlier announcement of unchanged tolls for 1988,
he was not necessarily implying there would be a rise in 1989.
    The canal would probably make a five to six mln dlr loss in
the current financial year but this could be carried over and
met from next year's revenues.
    This year's deficit resulted from the landslide which cost
the canal about 15 mln dlrs, McAuliffe said. This included
eight to nine mln dlrs in immediate costs with the rest being
spent on earth-moving operations to prevent any further
landslides.
    He said the landslide was not caused by deforestation and
he described as grossly exaggerated reports that there was any
threat to the canal's water supply in the foreseeable future.
    Studies concerning the possibility of widening the Gaillard
cut would not be affected by the landslide, he said, adding
that he expected the canal board to determine whether and when
the canal needed widening by January 1988 at the latest.
 Reuter
