Chorrera residents continue highway protests as Easter exodus begins

As thousands of city dwellers prepared to hit the road to the interior on Thursday, April 6  residents of the Arboledas urbanization in the district of La Chorrera, Panama Oeste, came out to protest, arguing that they do not have water and that the Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewers (Idaan) has failed to comply the agreements reached in recent meetings.

During the week, residents have been involved in blocking this important road, causing huge traffic jams, which has harmed the free movement of thousands of people who were stranded on the highway.

The protest occurs at a time when traffic is already heavy due to the displacement of thousands of people to the interior of the country, due to Holy Week.

According to  Iván Cano, Idaan’s Director of Operations, new interconnections will improve continuity in the area where the 19 neighborhoods whose residents participated in these protests are located.

“We are working throughout the aqueduct to see how we distribute the volume of the supply that we have available in an equitable manner”, he added.

The works began, Wednesday, said the official, and an attempt was made to redistribute the flows a little so that the sector that is supplied not only from this part of the network but also others that are nearby could also benefit — but it may be too late to help road travelers.