Water, a big tempest is brewing
by Lee
Today,
25 April the National government sent it's team to Boquete for a public
hearing on the new water law. The Mayor was there, the governor was
there, many other local elected officials were there as were hundreds of
residents. The meeting started late, as usual, and bilingual The lights
went out as when power was restored the English part of the
presentation was snipped out.
The
presentation done in powerpoint was to the point. Panama has a water
crisis and the government wants to fix it. My concern about this being a
packaging for resale to a private company was addressed early by
pointing to a line I missed in the proposed law, curiously under article
one, free standing.
"Paragraph: The National Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation not be privatized."
The
audience was vocal and clear, they want no part of the law. I spent
some time after the meeting with Rodrigo Marciacq discussing why the
objections are so forceful. This is a quick summary of why.
In
essence the people of Boquete want to continue to control their own
water. They have no confidence in the national government. They believe
this is a power grab and we will all be losers if Panama City has
control of local water supplies. They point to the failure of IDAAN to
provide water nationally and question if a new administration of a new
department can do any better. They believe the focus will be on the
Capital and we will pay more for worse service.
I
have asked Rodrigo and the Mayor to address the Tuesday meeting on 29
April on the issue, in English. I will have a confirmation of this
tomorrow.
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