The mayor of Panama presented a project that seeks the integral recovery of the beaches in the bay, including the coastal belt. The project will cost USD120 million and it is expected to be competed by 2022.
According to Special Projects office, in 1920 the capital’s citizenship usually bathed in the Bay on weekends, but after the contamination of this sector it has been abandoned completely.
Tomas Sosa, the Special Projects Director, mentioned that beaches like the ones in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona presented much worse conditions than those of the Bay of Panama, and with the sanitation it has been possible to rehabilitate it by using landfills.
The first phase of the project contemplates rebuilding the beach of Calidonia and the second phase will focus on Bella Vista.
During the press conference it was indicated that in the coming days all the qualified and interested companies will be invited to participate in the environmental impact study and thus start with the first steps in the execution of this proposal.
The project will seek to recover the Bella Vista beach, whose length is 800 meters, and is located along the Coastal Belt, in front of the Comptroller General’s Office. The other recoverable portion is the beach of Calidonia, with an extension of one kilometer long, starting from the Seafood Market.
On the other hand, Mayor José Luis Fábrega said that these beaches will also have restaurants, which will be placed under concession, a shopping center is also planned and the project will be funded by this economic movement that will be implemented in the area, which includes the arrival of cruise ships.
Fábrega explained that the beaches will be built with sea bottom sand and that part of the investment will be recovered with the concessions of the locals. The possibility of carrying out a revaluation plan for properties in the area is also considered.
The City Hall of Panama also contemplates infrastructure work such as the diversion of storm drains that fall into the bay, its connection with Amador, the Matasnillo river drain, the channeling of other pipes to the sewage treatment plant of Juan Díaz to eliminate pollution from its waters. These works are carried out in conjunction with the Panama Bay Sanitation project developed by the Ministry of Health.
Mayor Fábrega indicated that the project has the backing of the President of the Republic, and that he has advanced talks with the Minister of Environment to analyze the environmental issue.
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