New mayor  bets on Panama City beaches

Panama’s former Mayor, Jose Isabel Blandon nailed his flag to the upgrading of some of the city’s thoroughfares like Via Argentina,  Calle Uruguay, and Via Espana. Two of the projects, still unfinished led to business bankruptcies,  flooding, compensation claims, and court cases.  The third was condemned by engineers and citizens for is poor design, more flooding, and links to the Odebrecht company, which left the  Blandon flag in tatters and helped ensure he went from favorite to an also-ran in the last presidential race.

The capital’s new mayor, José Luis Fábrega’s, flagship project is the recovery of the city’s beaches which has been greeted with skepticism in some quarters, but he’s forging ahead.

On Monday,  July 22 he announced that in the coming days he will make the call to the companies interested in the project, which should start with an environmental impact study.

He said that the objective is for citizens to have access to public beaches in the capital, as in prominent cities of the world such as Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil; or Barcelona, ​​in Spain.

Tomás Sosa, director of Special Projects of the Mayor’s Office, said that the execution schedule of the beach recovery project is planned for completion in September 2022.

If the project runs at the same speed as Blandon’s street revitalizations,  the sands of time will have eaten up Fabrega’s term.