BRIEFS: Metro

Government halts miramar project

Eric Batista/La Prensa

stopped: Work was suspended at a project next to the Miramar Intercontinental Hotel because it lacked the proper permits.1080589

Municipal engineer Jaime Salas suspended work yesterday being done by the Miramar Development Corporation next to the hotel it owns on Avenida Balboa.

Salas said the decision was made after officials determined that the company did not have the relevant permits to begin working on an underground parking garage that it wants to build for hotel guests.

Salas also ordered an administrative investigation into the project be started.

The move came the same day that a story appeared in La Prensa about the project, and the fact that it did not appear to have permission from either the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF) or the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (MOP), the two entities that could approve it.

The suspension will remain in place, according to Salas, until the company acquires the proper permits from the government, which include paying any municipal taxes that it owes.

In January, the Miramar Development Corporation petitioned the MEF to develop nearly one hectare of land within the Cinta Costera project, but the request has not yet been approved.