Panama City: New Aerotropolis in the Works
(Internationalliving.com) If you’ve ever been to Panama, chances are, you remember how easy it was to fly here. For many an expat resident, the Tocumen International Airport is a big draw. Known as the Hub of the Americas, the busy airport is a connections hub, providing easy travel to and from anywhere in the region.
The hub and the Panama Canal also make Panama a prime destination for entrepreneurs or multi-nationals looking to expand within the region.
Recently, local news sources have announced that some 344 hectares around Tocumen are to be converted into Panama’s first aerotropolis, featuring logistics, commercial and residential sectors.
An aerotropolis is an airport-anchored city of sorts, with all the features of a modern metropolitan center, says John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill and a “leading developer of the aerotropolis concept.”
An aerotropolis boasts office buildings, hotels and exhibition complexes, medical and wellness facilities, cultural, leisure, and entertainment venues, retail, education, financial and consumer services.
“It is a globally connected city,” says Kasarda, “where long distance travelers and locals alike can work, shop, conduct business, exchange knowledge, meet, eat, sleep, and be entertained…without going more than 15 minutes from the airport.”
Dubbed Panatropolis, the “new world’s global hub,” the mixed-use development would also be an air logistics center, providing speedy, efficient logistical solutions to time-critical industries—such as high-tech and perishables companies. Says Kasarda, “The airport will become a magnet for high-value time critical to businesses and industry, complementing and reinforcing commercial development in Panama City’s downtown.”
According to news sources, the project will generate an estimated 3,000 direct jobs. Investors plan to funnel $412 million into the project; construction should take between five and 15 years.
According to local daily the Panama America, investors also say the project will be “the most innovative logistics platform in the region.” Quite a statement, considering the fact that a new city and logistics hub is growing in Panama Pacifico, on the western edge of Panama City.
Says Kasarda: “The location of Panatropolis is particularly favorable; right next to an international airport that is among the most strategically located in the Americas, with a hub carrier, Copa, that is among the fastest-growing and most successful airlines in the world. This will provide Panatropolis with the best overall access to Central, South, and North America.” Not only that, says Kasarda, but the project will also give Panama “a huge competitive edge.”
Thinking of moving or doing business here? Tocumen’s recent expansion and the advent of the Panatropolis project mean that travel services and logistics facilities here will soon be better than ever.
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Original Source: Internationalliving.com
Date Retrieved: January 18, 2011.
