CHINA, which has been expanding its involvement in transportation  ventures around the world from railways in Africa to road and rail links from is industrial centers across Asia  to Europe is now looking  at major developments in Panama.

Two consortia bidding for the  construction of Metro Line 3 have Chinese  participants ,and now China state-owned enterprises have expressed interest in developing land around the Panama Canal once a US fiefdom.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP)will officially open a tender to develop about 1,200 hectares of land - roughly the size of 1,200 football fields - around the waterway by the end of the year in a logistics park, which has reached the end of a  five years decontamination project says ACP , Chief Executive Jorge Quijano.

"We've been talking to people here in China," Quijano told Reuters before a meeting with the Canal’s advisory council in Shanghai.  "China Communications Construction Corp. its subsidiary China Harbor Engineering Company and China Railway Group have shown interest in the project," he said

This comes at a time when China is urging its companies to invest in infrastructure overseas as part of Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" initiative to improve global trade links.

In recent years, China's state-owned enterprises have already noted investments in key logistics nodes such as Piraeus in Greece and Bandar Malaysia, a major development project that will be the terminal of a high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore .

The Chinese company COSCO Shipping Corp. (which owns shares in ports around the world, including Piraeus has in the past approached the Panama Canal Authority on plans of the latter for the land, said Quijano.

"There are opportunities there, certainly for some of these Chinese companies to participate as a concessionaire, not only as a contractor to build something, but they can make a bid for the concession and then build," he said

Quijano said that canal authority will allocate the land and grant concessions of up to 40 years, with the aim of developing infrastructure and buildings on land previously used by the United States military for target practice.

An operation agreement for a roll-on, roll-off terminal near the canal, whose bidding will end in mid-2017, is also in play, he saidwith  expected interest from Japan, China, Norway and South Korea.

He estimated that land and terminal would help bring in an annual income of "between $ 100- $ 125 million" after the first five years of operation.

The Panama Canal is expected to contribute $ 2.8 billion in revenue this year.

Panama opened the expanded  locks in June 2016 built at a cost of  $5.4 billion dollars, Quijano said the canal had attracted 18.3 percent more tonnage between October and February, compared to last year's levels, boosted by a leap in liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas and container shipments.