how much would it cost to build the panama canal TODAY?!?!?

Answer 1

about ten times the cost when it was built decades ago

Answer 2

I just finished David McCullough's outstanding "The Path Between the Seas" story of the French and American efforts....

so: count the

25 million the US paid for the French concession
2 million to the Republic of Panama we created
and the 189 million spent on the digging ( the budget was 200 million, so they brought it in 10% UNDER, a phenominal achievement.....

then go find a site with the COLA / CPI formula for what ( rounded) 220,000,000 in 1914 US $ is worth today..

.times ten? maybe but 2.2 billion doesn't seem like ANYWHERE enough

also remember there were NO enviromentel impact questions back then ( hell, we built a huge 35 mile long lake in the middle of Panama to make the design work ); and no OSHA
( while people were careful, still about 4,000 died of accidents and disease)....I would think those two constraints would add at least 50 million 2007US$ right there......

Panama has sold the operating contract to the Canal to the Chinese and they are planning expansion of the locks; there is also ( for about the 10th time in history) a plan afoot to build a canal at Nicaragua.....you can probably find both stories thu "search" above.try "Nicaragua canal" and "expansion of Panama Canal"

and did you know " A man, a plan, a canal, panama " is a palindrome?

Answer 3

skeptron is right i agree 100%