environment

Project imperils wetlands

Anam officials expedited approval of a tourism complex proposed by a company linked to the current Mivi director.

The agency apparently ignored reports that the project could harm mangoves in the area.

LA PRENSA

red-flagged: Two environmental agencies are urging Anam to rescind its approval of the project destined for a mangrove forest. 1098199

Last month, the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam) quietly gave the green light to build a tourism development in the middle of a mangrove forest in San Carlos, an area on the Pacific coast in the district of Panama.

The company behind the $60 million project, Desarrollo Turístico San Carlos, S.A., belongs to the family of Ministro de Vivienda Gabriel Diez, and includes a complex consisting of 496 apartments and condominiums, 16 villas, a clubhouse and a 192-spot parking lot on several hectares of mangrove-rich territory overlooking the ocean.

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project, named CondoHotels Naakar, was approved by Anam’s Dirección de Evaluación y Ordenamiento Ambiental in less than three months, an unusually expeditious manner for the agencies. And in May, the Ministerio de Vivienda (Mivi) pushed through a rezoning proposal for the area, making the land available for the ‘high-density residential’ and ‘high-density urban tourism’ projects, just four days before Gabriel Diez made his son head of the family business so that he could assume the position of Mivi director.

Not everyone has been on board with the development, however. In August, the Autoridad de Recursos Acuáticos de Panamá (Arap) signaled Dirección de Evaluación y Ordenamiento Ambiental director Bolívar Zambrano that the EIA had raised red flags about the ecological soundness of the project at the Ministerio Público.

“This area has been the subject of [environmental] complaints submitted to Arap since 2005,” said Arturo Dominici-Arosemena, head of the Unidad Ambiental at Arap, in the letter to Zambrano, dated Aug. 20.

“It’s worth mentioning that our technical assessments indicate that this property is an area full of estuarine wetlands, particularly mangrove forests, which are outside protected areas, but by order of Act 44 of 2006 fall under the responsibility of Arap and have been reportedly affected in before the completion of an EIA,” wrote Dominici-Arosemena.

Additionally, officials from the regional administration of Anam in Panama Oeste filed a report claiming that Desarrollo Turístico San Carlos, S.A. had dug a channel on the property, diverting the natural flow of a creek, which had caused pollutants to build up in the area.

The report is dated April 27, 2007. A day earlier, Anam had conducted an inspection of the area, in which Gabriel Diez participated.

Despite Arap’s warnings, Anam’s resolution to go forward with the project was issued. The agency also made its decision before several other agencies could weigh in on it. These agencies included the environmental units of the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales, the Instituto Nacional de Cultura, the Instituto Panameño de Turismo (IPAT) and the Ministerios de Obras Públicas, Salud and Vivienda.

Being a Category I EIA, there was no public consultation required. Even so, the Diez family company reported having carried out a survey of 15 residents of San Carlos, of whom 66 percent allegedly did not feel the project would have a negative effect.

“There are two neighbors who are opposed because it affects their interests. They have brought suits before several institutions and we have taken nearly three years in addressing everything and doing things with total adherence to the law,” concluded Diez.

The Centro de Incidencia Ambiental (Ciam) has urged the Anam director Ligia Castro to intervene before the development does irreversible damage to the important San Carlos wetlands.