Panama: Sea Filling in Colón Faces Legal Challenges

Sea Filling in Colón Faces Legal Challenges

La Prensa

The Ocean Pollution Control company has undertaken an unauthorized project to fill in two hectares of sea bottom in the Bay of Manzanillo.

The Amador Causeway and the Bay of Panama aren't the only areas in the country where unauthorized sea filling goes on.

In the Bay of Manzanillo, in the Colón province, developer Ocean Pollution Control (OPC) has filled in sea floor to facilitate port activities there, all without the required permits and environmental studies.

OPC intends to install a passenger terminal, cargo handling and aircraft services, activities very different from the company's mission statement and original goal of controlling
pollution in the country's ocean territories.

Though the board of the Maritime Authority prohibited the company last November from occupying or operating in the area without permits, OPC decided to move forward with the work of filling in and jetties "at its own risk," according to statements made by company representatives to this newspaper.

Additionally, in July of this year, the Comptroller General returned the company's concession contract to the Maritime Authority without endorsing it and has requested further explanations on certain aspects of OPC's plans to fill in a two hectares of sea bottom for which it has proposed a monthly lease of $1,569 for a 20-year period.

At present, the Maritime Authority's current administration has launched an investigation into the case to determine the future of this application for the grant.