Pacific beaches get the nod for new Panama airport

(PanamaNewsRoom) Rio Hato, in Coclé,  near to the Pacific beaches has been chosen as the site for the construction of an international airport to serve the interior.

Other locations in the running were Aguadulce, Antón, Penonome, Santiago and Chitré.

As a sweetener to protesters in Santiago, which claims the airport should have been sited their because of the region’s economic development, the government plans to spend a “significant amount of money” to upgrade the Ruben Cantu Airport.
The government is also planning to invest another “significant amount of money” to upgrade facilities at the former Howard Air Force Base on the fringes of Panama City and to bring the Enrique Malek Airport in David, Chiriqui, up to international standards. An airport will also be built in Santa Catalina, in the Sona district.
The airport in Rio Hato will also be served by the construction of a tunnel from the Trans Panama highway all intended to give greater access to the Pacific beach areas to help boost tourism..

Provincial Council of Veraguas Representative Marcial Arosemena said: "The exclusion of Santiago means it will miss the opportunity to have access to an area place that has great economic boom, not occuring elsewhere in the interior."

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Original Source: PanamaNewsRoom

Date Retrieved: February 20, 2011