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Colón Container Terminal seeks land to expand

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controversial:Environmentalists raised red flags about a proposal to expand the Evergreen Marine-managed port in Coco Solo, in Colón, that could displace some 300 families and a mangrove forest that currently occupy a nearby parcel measuring 12.8 hectares. 1107173

The Colón Container Terminal (CCT) in Coco Solo, owned and managed by Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, has asked the government to approve an addendum to a 1996 law calling for the expansion of the facility.

The project was discussed yesterday within the Trade Committee of the National Assembly, but its approval has been postponed until next Thursday, pending environmental impact assessments by the Authority Nacional del Ambiente (Anam).

If approved, the addendum would modify an agreement reached in 2005, granting 9.7 hectares to the CCT, a parcel largely made up of green areas and mangroves.

Of that territory, the company must set aside 23,000 square meters for an environmental buffer zone, a measure aimed at protecting the rich biodiversity located in the environs of Coco Solo.

The proposed expansion of the container port would take place on the so-called E plot, an area covering 12.8 hectares that once made up the now-defunct Interoceanic Region Authority. The only obstacle to that project are the 300 families currently inhabiting a number of condemned residences on the site, according to AMP administrator Fernando Solórzano.

In response to the delay for environmental reasons, CCT legal representative Anibal Galindo commented that the company’s plans for the project will seek to cause the least environmental impact to the Coco Solo area.

However, environmentalists remain concerned about how this kind of industrial development will affect coastal zones in the region. Leslie Marin, of the Center for Environmental Incidence, cautioned that the company will have to take special care when transplanting mangroves, because the project will not just displace wildlife, but also the delicate ecosystems and the families now inhabiting that plot.

Bolívar Zambra, of the Directorate of Environmental Assessment of Anam, confirmed that CCT’s environmental impact studies had been approved.