Panamanians seen backing canal expansion

PANAMA CITY, Oct 9 (Reuters) A clear majority of Panamanians, hoping for a jobs bonanza, will back a 5.25 billion dllars plan to expand the country's famous canal in an upcoming referendum, according to a oll released today.

On October 22, voters will decide in a national referendum whether to expand the 50-mile (80 km) waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific via a series of channels, lakes and locks.

Seventy-seven percent of 1,200 voters backed the plan in the poll carried out between September 28 and October 2.

Fifty-two percent of those polled said they supported the project because it would create jobs, according to the CID-Gallup organization.

The Panama Canal carries 4 percent of all world trade but the government says it will eventually become obsolete as many modern ships are too big to navigate its narrow, 92-year-old locks.

The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, says expansion will create up to 7,000 jobs in the construction phase, and 40,000 indirect jobs in an eventual economic boom.

The project would create a third set of locks to carry a new generation of huge ships.

Construction is expected to take seven years, starting in 2008 and be financed directly by loans taken by the ACP, without the government taking on new debt.

REUTERS DH PM RAI02213