一项瘫痪的停工，使52亿美元的巴拿马运河第三车道扩建了两周以上，并于2月19日达成了一项暂定协议，承包商与所有者在涉嫌成本超支的承包商之间达成。

"This preliminary agreement to resume works does not imply a negotiation on the alleged cost overruns claimed by the contractor," said the Panama Canal Authority in a statement.

Neither side disclosed on Feb. 20 how many workers are returning to work and in what areas of the project.

Grupo Unidos Por el Canal (GUPC), the contractor team building the waterway's new locks, stopped work on Feb. 4 after weeks of negotiations with the Panama Canal Authority related to overruns it claims have reached $1.63 billion.

Canal officials have insisted that claims must go through a three-step arbitration process agreed in the 2009 contract for the work.

The owner and contractor group had reached an agreement in principle over the issue one week before, but continued negotiations on the details. The authority agreed to pay the contractor $36.8 million for December invoices to ensure work can go forward.

双方将继续讨论关键点，例如为锁的大门交付，其中几个已完成并等待从意大利过境。

尽管尚未披露该协议的财务细节，但运河管理员豪尔赫·奎亚诺（Jorge Quijano）表示，任何协议都是苏黎世保险集团合作的任何协议，他们还参加了谈判，以找到解决危机的解决方案。

瑞士保险公司持有4亿美元的绩效保证金，用于在该项目的该部分工作开始时发行的锁工作。

Quijano说，如果未与GUPC达成协议，该机构准备接管这项工作并在明年年底之前完成该项目。目前，运河扩建已完成72％，锁已完成65％。

GUPC由西班牙的Sacyr Vallehermoso S.A.组成，意大利的Impregilo S.P.A.，荷兰的Jan de Nul N.V.巴拿马S.A.的Constructora Urbana赢得了2009年7月的Locks Works的设计建设合同。

The consortium’s $3.12-billion bid was the only one below the ACP's allocated cost of $3.48 billion.