New mayor gets cold shoulder on Cinta Costera

Days after taking on the role of mayor of Panama city, Roxana Mendez has followed her predecessor in calling for  city control over the Cinta Costera.

She got a quick and negative response from Public Works Minister Federico Suarez: "The Cinta Costera project is a project of the country and  it has to be understood. It does not belong to the city or the mayor. The coastal belt, is emblematic of the country and will  be retained and get better and better," he said.

Anyone who wants to use the coastal strip to perform some activity casn apply as before but, he warned, that  it must be "in compliance with safety and security parameters." 

Roxana Mendez expressed had expressed her wish that all the green areas of the city were to be under the Mayor of Panama and said she would ask the Ministry of Public Works for transfer of the coastal strip.