government

Roadwork in Río Hato suggests political perks

MOP is taking heat for a stalled road repair project in Río Hato that seemed to prioritize a road to Torrijos’ beachfront mansion.

Summary summary summary summary summary summary summary summary

CARLOS LEMOS/LA PRENSA

road hog:A special addendum commissioned repairs on roads leading up to President Torrijos’ beachfront estate In Río Hato, while the rest of the community’s streets remain in bad condition.1065739

Residents of Río Hato, in Coclé, have been at odds with the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (MOP) since June, when the ministry’s much-acclaimed $760 million project to repair roads throughout the country came to a dead-end in their community.

Plotosa, the company that won the tender for the project in the region with a $1.5 million bid, suspended the project two months ago after completing barely 50 percent of the proposed roadwork. Many of the rural roads in this community remain nearly impassable, and residents’ hopes that the works will resume dims as twilight falls on the current government.

Members of that administration with homes in Río Hato, however, are riding high and smooth on new roads. Among them, President Martín Torrijos, whose beach house in the Quintas Sol y Mar complex has been rendered consummately accessible (albeit, to those with permission) by a freshly paved road leading right up to the gate.

The state contract that commissioned roadwork for Torrijos’ residence also benefited some of the President’s close friends, such as Ubaldino Real, Félix Pille González and Ilianne Krupnik, who own beachfront properties in the same complex. The neighborhood is patrolled by the Servicio de Protección Institucional (SPI).

Although the Alcaldía de Antón and MOP confirmed that the project’s initial draft did not include repairs to the road leading to the entrance of Torrijos’ property, an official addendum was later approved via internal channels within MOP.

The ministry has since initiated a process to terminate Plotosa’s contract for not completing the work by May 18, the deadline stipulated by the addendum. The contract is backed by a $746,850 performance bond undersigned by the insurance company Assa, according to the MOP.

Nevertheless, Antón Mayor Roger Diver Ríos was upbeat about the situation. He encouraged residents of Río Hato not to despair, as better roads are on the way. He explained that the MPO had supported the special addendum because it indirectly benefited the area’s fishing community.

Oddly, the closest fishing community in the area is in Farallón, where the streets remain in poor condition.

Community diputado Javier Tejeira argued that the contract gave priority to rehabilitating a road that leads to four beach mansions, when Río Hato has more pressing needs.

Torrijos has repeatedly defended the roadwork as benefiting the entire Río Hato community and does not represent presidential privilege.

Representatives of the MPO in Panama have refused to explain why such an addendum was approved for the Plotosa contract.