Above: construction work on Panama’s new Metro project (Photo: OP)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Construction on Panama City’s new Metro is moving forward, with 30 percent of the project completed, according to the government.

The first tests runs will be made on project’s Line 1 in August 2013, according to President Ricardo Martinelli, who made a visit to the construction site Monday.

“In December 2013, this new mass transportation system will be operational,” Martinelli said, who was looking at the May 5 station, which has completed 60 percent of its work and will be the first stop on the line to complete construction.

It began construction last month.

“We are changing the lives of Panamanians with this new transportation system, which will take them to their destinations more quickly,” said Martinelli, who was accompanied on the visit by Roberto Roy, the executive secretary of the Panama Metro.

Martinelli also made a stop at the construction site of the tunnel in the Albrook area.

The Office of the Presidency said 3,000 Panamanians were working on the Metro project, which could carry 30,000 persons per hour when finished.

The project is moving forward just as another large-scale metro project, the expansion of coverage for Santo Domingo’s rail system in the Dominican Republic, is also underway.