national

Cement plant with political ties upsets those who will live near it

ANA RENTERÍA/LA PRENSA

invaded:This peaceful stretch of road may soon be home to cement trucks going to and from a proposed plant that will be built nearby.996431

Ricardo Martinelli and Javier Martínez Acha couldn't be more different politically.

Martinelli is president of the Cambio Democrático (CD) party and a likely candidate for president in the upcoming election. Acha, a member of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), came close to winning a seat on the party's Comité Ejecutivo Nacional Sunday.

But while the two may not agree on many issues, they are both solidly in favor of cement plants. The two are part of a business former to build a cement plant in the Limón area of La Chorrera.

But the plant, if the current proposal remains unchanged, would be situated in the middle of a large residential area.

"I oppose the plant, but as someone who is poor, I can not do anything because money makes everything," said Gerardo Pinto, a community spokesman.

A survey showed that 37 percent of the residents oppose the plant, while an equal number said they do not know enough about it. The rest said they supported it, but only if there were no emissions.

Another opponent to the plant is Provivienda, which is building 3,000 homes near the site.

"The Environmental Impact Assessment outlines 14 environmental impacts, of which 10 are negative," the company said in a letter outlining its opposition.

The company, Industrias Básicas, counters that there will be economic benefits to the community that will improve the quality of life there.

But business is not a democracy, and the only vote that matters in this case is the one being cast by the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam), which has recently decided in favor of the $6 million plant, but that vote was not without controversy.

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted to Anam March of 2007 received tentative approval in 10 days. But significant red flags were raised about how that happened, considering the approving officer did not raise any issues or require any additional information about the plant. As a comparison, it took two years for the agency to approve a similar plant on the former Rodman Naval Base.

"That has never happened on a project like this," said a source within Anam.

Top Anam officials rejected the officer's assessment and ordered another review. This one identified significant problems.

After a year, the company has apparently resolved those issues and received a favorable vote from Anam.

Bolivar Zambrano, director of Anam, said he is satisfied that the plant will not have an impact on the houses near it.

"The EIA has been approved because the rules have been met," Zambrano said. "If the company complies with everything that was detailed in the study, it is not going to affect the community."