Flood due to felling of trees

Authorities of Arraiján, attribute the flood registered on the Pan-American highway on June 10th, to the felling of trees in the area to extend the road to eight lanes.

The director of Environmental Management of the Municipality of Arraiján, Livia Herrera, points out that the felled trees cushioned the flow of rainwater that reached the creek, which overflowed a week ago.


In fact, Herrera, in a report titled "Road works wipe out trees", published  on June 2, warned that floods would occur due to deforestation and diversion of the channel of the Velásquez River.

Now the official predicted that if the corresponding mitigation measures are not taken when the Ministry of Works begins the work to draw the road "Loma Cová is going to crumble like a candy" . To correct this situation we will have to channel the ravine, which crosses the Pan-American Highway.

The Presidency of the Republic, following the report published in which denounced the felling of trees, sent a statement in which they indicated that they maintain inspections in the western sector of the country, within which there are two works of great road impact, such as the Panama Pacifico interchange and the expansion to eight lanes of the Pan-American highway.

In the press release, Minister Emilio Sempris indicated that, like the expansion project of the Panama Canal, those of the Panama Pacifico interchange and the expansion to eight lanes of the Pan-American highway contemplate forest compensation measures for land use change, according to Executive Decree 123 of August 2009.

In addition, they reported that through the Direction of Verification of Environmental Performance of the Ministry of Environment, they follow up on the mitigation plans included in the environmental management tools of these projects, which to date take compensation measures.

Susana Serracín, of the Alliance for Environmental Conservation, indicated that in this situation it should be verified how they are carrying out environmental mitigation programs.

He assured that these well-run programs should avoid situations such as the flood registered on June 10.

This project is being built by the Loma Cová consortium, composed of [Acciona Infraestructura y Constructora Meco, with an investment of $335.5 million..