The expansion of Panama's century-old canal is now set to be completed around the month of May.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela announced the news on Saturday in an address to the nation, Yahoo! News reported from AFP. The canal's construction has suffered costly overruns and major delays in the past.

In his speech, Varela also urged the Spain-led contractor, Grupo Unidos por el Canal de Panama, behind the project to hand over legal disputes to the "competent authorities" and focus on the waterway's completion, Yahoo! News added. The president's appeal came after a Dispute Adjudication Board hearing, where a budget overrun disagreement ordered the state's Panama Canal Authority to pay $17 million to the group for additional labor costs and for a workers strike.

"With respect, I am calling on the contractors for the expansion project to hold dialogue with the Panama Canal Authority, to allow work to be completed, to leave legal disputes in the hands of the competent authorities and to avoid mediatized differences that in no way help the image of the contractors, the Canal Authority and the Republic of Panama," Varela remarked, as quoted by the news outlet.

The contractor began the expansion work on the waterway in 2007, Yahoo! News noted. The extensions were initially intended to be completed in October 2014 but were then delayed to April 2016. Varela's announcement signified that construction is once again pushed back; this time to May 2016. This indicated that the project is well behind schedule.

The construction on the canal is projected to increase its capacity for up to three times, Yahoo! News further reported. Expenses are expected to reach up to $5.3 billion, but that cost has been hugely exceeded.

In addition, Varela said it was "imperative" to begin a study on the development of a river basin that will provide water supplies for human use and for the canal's function, the news outlet noted.

The Panama Canal expansion will allow huge new ships to pass through the trade route, and could move the flow of goods and products from the United States West Coast to the East Coast, the Globe and Mail wrote.

The canal's expanded route will also give a chance to ports along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts to compete with their West Coast rivals for vessel traffic, the Globe and Mail reported. For the ship owners and their customers, they will have access to a cheaper -- although slower -- path to arrive at markets in the largely populated eastern half of the U.S.