Mangroves to be affected by Corridor expansion

The expansion to six lanes will allow the Interamericana to become a more expeditious route for the hundreds of cars that circulate in the area.

The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) presented the environmental impact study (EIA) , category II, of the project known as the beach corridor, the first section, which runs from La Chorrera to Chame, in the province of Panamá Oeste.

This first part was awarded in November 2017 to the FCC Corredor de las Playas I consortium, made up of the Spanish FCC Construcción and the Mexican Operadora Cicsa, which obtained the best score by presenting a proposal of $ 543 million. The order to proceed was given last May..

According to the environmental study, the area directly touched by the work   covers a total area of ​​254.8 hectares.  The project begins in the corregimiento of Guadalupe  in the district of La Chorrera, continues in the district of Capira and, finally, extends to the Chame district.

The vegetation touched by the six lane extension of 81 hectare are: 61 hectares corresponds to stubble; 9 hectares, to young secondary forest; 6 hectares to intermediate secondary forest, and 4 hectares to forest plantations of species such as teak.

The EIA was presented to the Ministry of Environment (Environment ) last October for evaluation.  the Direction of Evaluation and Ordering has admitted that the study is currently ’in process’ and may or may not be approved.

Regarding the existence of fragile ecosystems within this MOP project, the presence of the "mangrove ecosystem" was identified, which is part of the Chame Bay, which is in "good condition" and is part of a large vegetation surface. "It is worth mentioning that the expansion of the Pan-American highway will pass very close to the mangrove zone" the study notes.

In fact, it states that these areas will be "permanently" harmed "by the construction activities of the project within the area. It clarifies, however, that the necessary measures will be implemented to minimize the damage, as indicated in the environmental mitigation plan.

This protected area of ​​more than 8 thousand hectares was created in 2007 to conserve the biodiversity of the area. Although in 2013, the then administration of the defunct National Environmental Authority issued a resolution to reduce its limits to 6 thousand hectares, this year the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice returned to its original extension.

The work will also affect homes and businesses located on the edge of the Panamericanan highway.   In total, there are  575 potential affected structures.  The majority, 85%, consists of  491buildings of which  61% of the structures are identified  as housing, 22% are for commercial use (various businesses), 3% are for institutional use, 2% are dedicated to services, 7% are of mixed-uses and 5% are empty.

 Isaias  amos, biologist at CIAM says that "The Ministry of Environment, instead of being a guardian and administrator, is behaving as a facilitator of government works. Now it is the Chame mangroves, ecosystems and biodiversity that will be affected by poorly structured and planned development" .

Sion Atencio, Infrastructure Coordinator of the College of Civil Engineers of Panama, said that the authorities can improve the designs of these works, so as not to impact the ecological part of Chame. "In these cases it is better to make viaducts, even if they are more expensive minimizing the environmental damage.  Now we have to see how they will apply environmental mitigation in the work, "he said.

The MOP defends the project. It aims to "alleviate" the current traffic of the road, providing it with a sufficient capacity to absorb the vehicular demand for the next 20 years.

Likewise, it mentions that it will improve circulation between the towns, planning  21 pedestrian bridges, 7 roundabouts, 5 interchanges and 12 vehicular bridges, as well as a viaduct in La Chorrera and a viaduct in the Campana area.

In total, the beach corridor will extend 37.7 kilometers.

The second section will go from Chame to San Carlos. The work was awarded last June to the same consortium, for $ 349 million.