immigration

Immigration will have new offices

LA PRENSA

Relocation: The government paid $5.2 million for the building that will house Migración’s new offices on Avenida Ricardo J. Alfaro, near the Universidad Tecnologica de Panamá. 975393

If all goes as planned, the Dirección Nacional de Migración will open the doors of its new offices on Avenida Ricardo J. Alfaro in May of this year.

Tayra Barsallo, Migración’s subdirector, said they are just about ready to start accepting bids for the remodelling of the building which for years housed the now defunct Grupo Fotokino. The new headquarters are just a few meters away from the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá and Tumba Muerto.

Barsallo said it will be a turnkey operation. The company that wins the remodelling bid will be responsible for providing the building with chairs, desks, file cabinets and other office furniture as well as computers and other electronic equipment. Staff from the Dirección de Ingeniería y Arquitectura of the Ministerio de Gobierno y Justicia, in coordination with personnel from the Secretaría de Innovación Gubernamental de la Presidencia de la República, will be involved in the bidding process. Information about bidding will be available at www.panamacompra.gob.pa at the beginning of February.

The company awarded a contract will have a maximum of 90 days to deliver the remodelled building. "We'll be moving in at the end of May," Barsallo said.

An extraordinary expenditure approved by the Asamblea Nacional, the building cost the government $5.2 million, and it is spending another $2 million on renovations. The property was purchased from Icefield Investment of Scotia Bank, which acquired the property during the Fotokina bankruptcy proceedings.

Barsallo said the building will have four floors, three elevators, a first floor that will function as a kind of mezzanine, and two basements. It will also have an open parking area of around 3700 square meters.

The government has not yet decided what it will do with the old facilities that have housed the Dirección Nacional de Migración since 1947.