Future of Casco Viejo heritage rating still in doubt

The specter of a highway circling Panama’s historic Casco Viejo leading to its delisting as a World Heritage site has been raised again.

The possibility that the consortia interested in making the road that will connect the Avenida Balboa to the Avenue of Poets in Chorrillo, may submit an alternative to the proposal to build an underground tunnel, has revived fears that the Old Town will be bordered by a promenade and lose the status of world heritage given by Unesco.

the Calicanto Foundation and the Association of Friends and Neighbors in the Old Town feel that the proposal could lead to to the coastal strip extending aound the edge of the historic city.
The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) had earlier envisaged the construction of a tunnel, but also let the stakeholders in the project submit a design option
MOP Minister, Federico José Suárez, said :"We evaluate all options presented”.