real estate

Ministry under fire for golf course zoning

The Ministry of Housing is being criticized for approving a golf course.

Groups say the ministry violated its own regulations in allowing the project to go ahead.

Carlos Lemos/la prensa

teeing off: Environmental groups are planning to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Housing for allowing a golf course to be built in an area of Juan Díaz that was supposed to be preserved.1136846

A proposed golf course to be built in Juan Díaz is coming under fire because it threatens to destroy almost 20 hectares of mangroves.

Environmental groups are criticizing both the Ministry of Housing, which zoned the area to allow the project, and ANAM, the government’s primary environmental agency, for approving it.

The groups say that the ministry violated its own directive when it approved the zoning for the proposed Santa Maria Golf & Country Club. The project calls for the removal of 18.5 hectares of mangroves to make way for the golf course.

In 1980, the ministry identified the area as an “ecological reserve.” Twenty years later, an executive decree stipulated that the mangroves in Juan Díaz “should be preserved.”

The ministry apparently had a change of heart in January 2007, when it zoned the area to allow the construction of residences, the golf course and commercial buildings.

The project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) was approved by ANAM in February 2008.

Housing Ministry Vice Minister José Batista said the land being used by the developer had no prior zoning, so the ministry was simply responding to a request filed by the developer.

“What we did was assign the project a land use in response to a development plan they submitted,” the official explained.

That explanation is not sitting well with environmental groups, such as the Panama Audubon Society, which has criticized the project as “violating rules that are in force.”

ANAM’s Director of Protected Areas Aleida Salazar has also been critical of the project, saying, “We would like to know on what basis the ministry adopted this planned development.”

Salazar also noted that the mangroves are essential to preventing flooding in the area, in addition to providing other ecological benefits. They are considered especially essential to wildlife.

The Center for Environmental Impact has also been critical of the project, and has planned to initiate legal action over the ministry’s zoning decision. Leslie Marín, the group’s lawyer, said the complaint will be filed in January.

ANAM’s Director of Evaluation Bolívar Zambrano said the project’s EIA does not call for the destruction of any mangroves. That view was backed up by Martín Sosa, general manager of Santa Maria Golf & Country Club, who said that the first phrase of the project does not include any areas with mangroves. He said that new EIAs will be submitted for future phases.

In the EIA that was approved by ANAM, the developer planned to engage in a mangrove reforestation project in Chame.

Batista said that the project has been “demonized,” and that it has followed strict environmental protocols. He added that the developers were forced to make changes to the project to protect environmentally-sensitive areas.