Mystery video reveals hidden plans for “New Amador”

A mysterious video,which experts believe cost $100,000 has revealed previous hidden plans for the Cinta Costera and beyond.

It’s source is unknown, but it reveals an ambitious real estate project called New Amador which would include building high rises along the Avenue des Poetas in and blocking  the seaview of Chorillo  residents.

The video, lasting nearly eight minutes, was shown  on Telemetro Thursday, June 16 when the Director of Special Projects of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), Carlos Ho, was being interviewd about alternatives to phase three of the coastal strip.
The MOP  Public Relations office said the video was not created by the Government but objected to it being shown during the interview.

There are 10 organizations lined up against the extension of the Cinta Costera, as now visualized, with  a highway running around Panama’s historical heritage site, but the video goes further.

It shows the highway  continuing to come to Chorrillo and  then to Amador.

The video shows an ambitious high end real estate, New Amador, built on  about 2 million square meters of landfill and Chorillo property including some  green and recreation areas and another 80 hectares available for construction projects.

The images show  that the inhabitants of El Chorrillo would not have ocean views, but residents of New Amador would have access to a beach with many amenities.

Experts say that the high quality images were produced with a program of computer-aided design (CAD), used by architects and engineers.

An architect and a graphic designer, told La Prensa, saying that to produce a high quality piece of this kind is very expensive and would have cost at least $100,000. They did  not know of any Panamanian companies that could prduce a work of this magnitude  of this magnitude because it is not the model for a new apartment building, a majot plan for the city of Panama. Deception

Patrizia Pinzon, of the Association of Residents and Friends Casco Viejo (AVACA), said  if the third phase of the coastal strip is constructed the authorities would be cheating the residents of El Chorrillo with  buildings in front of their homes and taking away the ocean view.
Sebastian Paniza, a member of ICOMOS Panama, a UNESCO consultant arm. Said that the extension to Amador  would affect the Museum of Biodiversity, which is of great importance for the country.

"I was surprised at how  Chorrillo will be segregated and the Museum of Biodiversity will become "a tack on".

Developer Alvaro Uribe said the museum would lose a lot becauseit  would be trapped between large buildings and a four lane highway "The museum has a design that fits well with its surroundings, not with alrtrnate plans to develop the place," he said.

Margot Lopez, Communications Director of the Museum, said no one has informed them that the project could reach the area of ??Amador only discovered the project through Youtube.

Uribe said: Casco Viejo makes aunique compared to other cities, so we must be careful with any work being done in this World Heritage area.
Uribe considered landfill for the construction of the third phase of the coastal strip would lead to loss of  Panama's identity as a country
Hildegard Vásquez, executive director of the Foundation Calicanto, described as unfortunate that the authorities gradually reveal what they have planned for phase three of the coastal strip, and are not transparent in the information given to the population.
She said  it now makes sense why the government is so determined that phase 3 of the Cinta Costersis carried out. "The interest is in developing Amador…. this is a business. They are not interested in the old city or Chorrillo”.
Another point to consider carefully he  said, is that the walls would Chorrillo with the construction of skyscrapers, which would remove the current visibility to area residents.
He pointed out tha the Amador Causeway is a low density, and to increase that would be  counterproductive. 

Alida Spadafora executive director of the National Association for the Conservation of Nature, said that seeking to create a real estate boom in the area without measuring the consequences for Panama, would change the identity of the country, affecting even tourism .
On the other hand, Ministry of Commications said that Mario Kennedy the mayor of San Felipe, Had written in a letter to the Unesco director of the Heritage section of Latin America, saying the project will improve the quality of life for residents of El Chorrillo and neighbors.