Panama Canal: Indio River Project Will Be Carried Out 'In An Orderly And Fair Manner With The Residents'

2025-02-23 11:14:11

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) They will have to leave with their lives on their shoulders. They will leave with their furniture, their dogs, their cats, their chickens and even their dead. The area will be flooded and become part of the Panama Canal. According to preliminary data, in the reservoir area there are 538 households and 1,714 people: 53% are men and 47% are women.

Panama City, Panama: The deputy administrator of the Panama Canal, Ilya Espino de Marotta, assured that the process to compensate and indemnify people who are impacted by the construction of the Rio Indio Lake will be developed in an orderly, fair and transparent manner, according to a statement released by the Panama Canal.

This took place during a meeting with representatives of the Peasant Coordinator for Life and residents of some communities in the Indio River basin. At the meeting, held in the community of Las Marías de Penonomé, Coclé province, the deputy administrator reiterated that“the Canal assumes the commitment and responsibility to carry out this process and to do it well, treating everyone equally.

The time deemed necessary will be invested to develop the Resettlement and Livelihood Restoration Plan with the residents.” An explanation was given that the next 12 to 18 months will be devoted to the joint construction of the plan, so there will be no pressure on the start of the resettlement-related actions, taking into account that the work would start in 2027 and would last at least four years.

No Slums Will be Built

During the day, residents expressed their concerns, mostly related to compensation, respect for their rights, the value that would be assigned to their properties and the ways in which resettlement would be carried out. The deputy administrator and the Water Program team took the opportunity to clarify that no neighborhoods will be built for resettlement, since this process will be carried out respecting all rights, including the cultural part.

“Rio Indio Lake, a priority for the country”. Friday, the Panama Canal announced that its Board of Directors established the Rio Indio Lake project as a priority to guarantee the country's water security, and therefore approved the necessary funds to carry it out, including the resource to cover the compensation and indemnities required as part of the Resettlement and Livelihood Restoration Plan.

Dilubino Agrajé, president of the Coordinator, asked the participants to participate in the activities and to inform themselves so that they can analyze and question those responsible for the initiative, so that they can obtain the answers that will help them draw their own conclusions.

Children in El Jobo village play in the Indio River, which could have its flow reduced under a proposed plan to secure the Panama Canal's uninterrupted operation in Panama

This Sunday, on the Radar program, the administrator of the Canal, Ricaurte Vásquez, explained that it is a lake approximately the size of Lake Alajuela, with a capacity similar to Lake Gatún.“That is why the efficiency of this alternative is better than the surface and conduction of Bayano.” From an operational and engineering perspective, he said it is the most efficient and feasible proposal.

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