Mayor-elect mopping up Uruguay, Argentina thoroughfares

Panama’s mayor-elect  José Luis Fábrega is already moving to clean up the much-trumpeted flagship renewal projects of his predecessor, Jose Isabel Blandon in Calle Uruguay and via Argentina, and Via Espana which still presents recurring flood problems.

According to Fábrega, two boxes will be installed with a system of four pumps that will help in the collection and management of rainwater, which will go to the Bay of Panama. This pumping system will work for five months, until the rains end, he said.

Initially, the cost of this work – developed by the construction company Meco – was $26 million and  $7 million was added last year to add the connection of sanitary lines.

The new addendum  has an estimated cost of $350,000

The  new proposal,  came  after four meetings held by Fábrega with representatives of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA), the Panamanian Chamber of Construction, the Director of Works and Construction of the Municipality of Panama, Antonio Docabo, and some representatives of organized civil society, mainly residents of the affected area.

Fabrega added that in some way this type of proposal will be executed in other municipal projects, such as the urban renewal of Via Argentina road, the revitalization of the via Espana Spain, the improvements in Parque Urracá which were recently flooded and the adequacy of La Gallinaza stream, in Juan Díaz.

The solutions for these last areas will be announced in the coming days.

 Sión Atencio, the coordinator of the Infrastructure Commission of the College of Engineers and member of SPIA, stressed that the rainfall pattern is changing in the country.

Atencio explained that currently, it rains in an hour what previously fell for a whole day, and no drainage system that dates back many years can handle that amount of water correctly.

To develop a specific project, engineers use an element called intensity, duration and frequency curve, which is nothing more than the behavior of the rains during a certain time and place. That allows them to define the model or constructive design that will be implemented, but the curves date from 1972.

Given this scenario, the mayor said they will take into account the new parameters of rainfall in the city of Panama for the next works carried out by the local government.