Amador Causeway

State officials shirk responsibilities

A former top ARI official says "everyone is passing the ball," when it comes to facing the problems on the Amador Causeway.

Carlos Lemos/LA PRENSA

violation: Officials say developer Abraham Hasky did not have permission to build a landfill for the Las Brisas de Amador project.1013953

Nobody in the government wants to take responsibility for the extensive and allegedly illegal building taking place on the Amador Causeway, although the offending companies are operating under government contracts.

At issue are more than 11 hectares of landfill deposited in the sea by Jean Figali's Grupo F and developer Abraham Hasky's Las Brisas de Amador project on Isla Perico.

The Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF) has filed a complaint against Figali's company, claiming that it has effectively robbed 1,640 square meters of land that belong to the government. The government had hoped to sell the land for $8 million. The MEF states that it has detailed documents and drawings that clearly show that Grupo F has overstepped its bounds in developing a marina on the causeway. Figali, whose business activities have generated considerable criticism remains defiant of the government, even though the MEF claims to have detailed documents and drawings shoing that Grupo F overstepped its bounds in developing a marina on the causeway.

Government officials have accused Hasky of proceeding with work on Las Brisas de Amador without proper environmental permits and, like Grupo F, filling in the sea without authorization in order to accomodate his business plans, among other things.

Grupo F and Las Brisas both claim to have approved plans for their landfills. The Autoridad Marítima de Panamá (AMP) says they do not. Both Grupo F and Las Brisas were recently reported to be in arrears in their payments to the government for their concessions on the causeway.

The AMP says the MEF is responsible for what's happening on the causeway, reasoning that it only has authority over the sea, and now the dispute is over land, albeit land artificially built up from the sea floor. "The Dirección de Catastro y Bienes Patromoniales" a land registry division of the MEF has to intervene and assign a value to the land," said Carlos Ernesto González de la Lastra, AMP's general secretary. He said that the last time the government's interinstitutional committee met, the MEF promised to take action through the Dirección de Catastro. "We're waiting for that to happen," he said.

The Comité Interinstitucional is made up of representatives from the AMP, the MEF, la Contraloría General de la República, the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam) and the Ministerio de la Presidencia. But almost no one at the MEF wants to talk about the Amador landfills. The institution has reported only that its lawyers are evaluating the "extremely delicate" situation.

"We don't want to fail in our decisionmaking," said the MEF's information chief, Manuel Naza, speaking on behalf of the institution's viceministra de Finanzas, Gisela Porras.

En tanto, Antonio Domínguez, directivo de la desaparecidad Autoridad de la Región Interocéanica (ARI), señaló que el problema está en la administración que se le ha dado a estas concesiones en los últimos años.

The former president of the board of directors of the now disbanded Autoridad Regional Interoceánico (ARI), Gustavo García de Paredes, said there has always been a problem with responsibility for the Amador concessions. The ARI was responsible for managing properties that reverted to Panama after they ceased to be administered by the U.S. military some years ago. "Everyone is passing the ball, and no one wants to take responsibility. No one assumes ultimate responsibility," he commented.

Antonio Domínguez, the ARI's ex-director, noted assuredly that the government's administration of the Amador concessions in recent years has led to the current problems. "No wonder they've forgiven the debts of some of the parties that obtained concessions," he said.