No change in sight for private yacht club on public property

In an era of change, some things never change, and Panama’s  Yacht and Fishing Club. sited on the Cinta Costera, seems destined to remain forever.

With the added benefit of nearly $10 million of landfill paid for by taxpayers the  Club continues to operate within the coastal belt with a"provisional permit" that violates the law of sea-bottom concessions.

A  Year and a half ago, President, Ricardo Martinelli,  still in full cry after his sledgehammer wielding performance against another violator, on the  Amador Causeway, announced that the Club would be relocated away from the coastal strip. {jathumbnail off}

Sites at Rodman were mentioned in follow up pronouncements. {ja thumbnail off}

The other violator was the much reviled Jean Figali, who had used landfill (not paid for by taxpayers) to fill in a large piece of the Bay of Panama for a planned Marina. But Figali, now awaiting trial on money laundering charges, did not have the insider connections of the 600 members of the club on the Cinta Costera, and the newly elected president headed to the Causeway and was photographed striking symbolic blows on the fence around the illegal land. So symbolic, that later 60,000 passports were issued with the National coat of arms carrying a hammer in one of its quarters instead a a pic axe. That mini contretemps was quickly hushed up.

 But over at the other landfill site, provided courtesy of the Odebrecht construction operation, the Yacht Club had been operating with “temporary permission” granted in 2008, by the government of Martín Torrijos, showing that connections to the reins of power were not limited to the right leaning government of businessmen.
However. The Torrikos   permission was valid for 11 months and 29 days and, once expired, was extended under the new rulers.
The first extension says Monica Palm in La Prensa,  was signed on October 16, 2009 and, and quietly renewed on September 27 2010.

This, in spite of public pronouncements soon after the election that the club would be moved to a new site in 12 months, although improvements to the temporary site continued to be made.

Now the members are are asking  a permanent formalization of their stay on land belonging to “the people”  with a 20-year concession.

Palm writes that the permanence of the club is challenging the regulations of Panama’s Maritime Authority (AMP) which, in its third article states that permissions may be "provided that the period of occupation is less than one year" So far it has been two thirty onemonths and there is  no concrete plan to relocate the club. 
"There is nothing definitive on the subject, since the alternatives raised require to undertake a major landfill in Rodman area," acknowledged Deputy Finance Minister Dulcidio Guard, via email. 

While  the  Club was in the public spotlight options were studied at the time by club members, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), without reaching any agreement and the administrator of the AMP, Roberto Linares, said he was waiting to inform him where the club would be relocated. 
The provisional permit gives  the club the use of 10.1 acres of sea bottom (101 000 474.72 square meters), by paying 11 cents a square foot. 
The original extension was signed on August 26, 2008, by then AMP administrator Fernando Solorzano, pressured by the then Minister of Public Works (MOP), Benjamin Colamarco, a former  leader of  the Dignity Battalion, the storm troopers of  the Noriega dictatorship, whose abuse against recently deceased former Vice-President Billy Ford, alerted the world  to repression in Panama.

The temporary permit was valid for 11 months and 29 days, but soon after maturity, lawyer Sixto Abrego, acting as agent of the Club, requested an extension. 
In principle, the application was  refused, saying as permission was given for "the maximum term indicated by  the Concession Rules," dating from 1976. 
"We regret that the same can not be prolonged," said a note to Linares Abrego, in August 2009. 
Then came a radical change of mind. On October 16, 2009 after Martinelli’s pronouncements that the club would be moved,  an extension was granted for 11 months and 29 days. And when that period expired, it was extended again.

Act 3 of 1959, says that the land allocatedto the club revert to the state, "if the proposed filling of the bay or harbor any work of national interest cannot be pursued” like the construction of the coastal strip.
The agreement also includes the transfer "of all the filled area and all existing improvements" by the Club, including 1.2 acres of sea floor and filled without legal authorization, according to a court ruling of February 25, 2000 must be "reinstated to the national heritage." 
The illegal filling never reverted to the State, nor was anyone punished, although Act 35 of 1963, as amended by Act 36 of 1995 empowers the MEF to impose a fine amounting to five times the value of the filling. 
"Just as a preliminary reference, if we use it as worth the price of $ 5,000 per square meter in Avenida Balboa the penalty would be $63,095,450 said a report sent to Finance Minister Alberto Vallarino in July 2009. 
Attempts by Monica Palm learn more about the arrangements between the club to and the AMP . got the reply from club manager  Peter Blok, that the club was operating with a "concession in force”, and no  word on how much is being paid for the use of its multi-million dollar public property.