Supreme Court nixes Ministry control of Canal area

 EIGHT OF the nine articles of a 2007 law allowing the Ministry of Housing and Land Management to control the development of the Panama Canal area have been declared unconstitutional by Panama’s Supreme Court

The law allowed the Ministry to manage and approve projects in the watershed of the waterway.
According to the ruling of the Court, that rule violates Article 316 of the Constitution, which created the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP), which provides that it shall have “custodial management, operation, and maintenance of the Panama Canal and related areas, in accordance with the constitutional and legal rules in force “
In its decision, the judges said that the implementation of development projects commercial and residential character within the Canal watershed without authorization from the ACP, does not fit the conservation of the Basin’s water resources.