Authorities in the Honduran business city are promoting the project which must be executed by an entity which can operate under the public-private partnership model.
"The specifications have already been developed and will be forwarded to the Commission on Public Private Partnership, along with the relevant contract, as it will require the approval of this entity in order to continue with the procedure.
With $115 million, Panama City will have for next year, the largest budget in its history.
For the first time the town of Panama City will have available $115 million for investment and maintenance works during 2012.
The budget, which is $23 million more than that of 2011, includes improvements to parks, renovation works at the Marañón gym, and the creation of a television channel, among other things.
A document contains summarized development proposals for 541 major projects with a total investment budget of over $2,500 million.
The overall objective of the plan is to formulate a tool for territorial planning in the medium and long term (projected to the year 2024), which integrates proposed land development - rural and urban- at a local and sub-regional level, with the opportunities and challenges of each of the municipalities that are part of the Sub Region 1, in order to achieve feasible and viable proposals that will contribute to improving the economic, social, and environmental conditions and the quality of life of its inhabitants, providing the social agents with an instrument that will allow them to manage local development efficiently .
An area of significant mining activity seeks to become a new region independent of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region.
The project, first proposed to parliament in 2002, has gained strength since the Presidency’s declared intention to change the political map of the country.
According to studies from that time, the mining triangle area has three runways, four radio stations, private cable television companies, and a lime, brick and tile block factory.
Only 28% of the country's municipalities have clear rules for granting permission to install radio base stations.
In a note presented to congress on March 31, the Chamber of Info-communication and Technology reported that, "to date, only 23 of the 81 municipalities and 3 district councils have approved celular telephony infrastructure regulations".
Sabesp, the Sanitation Company of São Paulo (Brazil) and Latin Consult were awarded the $ 2.3 million contract.
The contract is for commercial and operational consulting for a period of three years in nine municipalities.
This is the second bid awarded to the consulting firm in Central America. In 2009 it won a $ 8.8 million bid in Panama sponsored with the Institute of Aqueducts and Sewage Systems (Idaan).
Municipalities still have 2.000 pending applications for building towers.
Problems in issuing permits (just the municipality of Turrialba has 200 requests) have to do with the lack of knowledge on how to process such permits.
"The Government asked on Oct. 21st for representatives of local governments to support a general regulation for municipal procedures on telecommunications" publishes El Financiero on its web page.
IFC will finance part of $ 44 million in road repairs in Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela.
The money will be channeled through three local banks: Ficohsa, Atlantida and Banco de Occidente, covering 36% of the $ 44 million credit loan the municipalities have with these banks.
This is the first sub-national credit the International Finance Corporation (IFC) does in Honduras and serves as a mechanism for credit sharing, allowing local banks to overcome limits of funds they can lend, providing better conditions for long-term investments.
The 'Municipal Purchases System" will list the services and products demanded by the country's municipalities.
30 municipalities are currently included in the project, and the idea is to gradually incorporate the remaining 51.
"Anyone can register as a supplier in the system. They will be notified via email when an interesting bidding process is available, and will be able to directly download the bidding rules", reported Elfinancierocr.com.
Costa Rica approved a line of credit from the IDB for the rehabilitation of roads and improvements to the road infrastructure in cities and national routes.
The loans for $850 million authorized by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID acronym in Spanish) were approved by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica for financing of the Transportation Infrastructure Program.
Since the law was passed giving municipalities the right to collect property taxes, collection has increased by 2% annually.
However, the amount being collected for property taxes could grow substantially because their registered values are much lower than their real values.
In their analysis of the issue, Daniel Shea of the Costa Rican Tico Times, indicates that according to a recent study by the Technical Standardization Entity (ONT) of the Treasury Department, where they evaluate the value of properties in Costa Rica (the first one of this type in 10 years), 92% of properties have a value listing at $20,000 or less...
The mayoralties reported decreases between 10% and 70% in taxes which affect project execution and employment.
The president of the Corporation of Salvadoran Municipalities and Mayor of Antiguo Cuscatlán, Milagro Navas, said, "We are seeing a recession in all the mayoralties and now we are in trouble and are even considering staff reductions." Her own community has $300 thousand in unpaid taxes.
Lawmaker Guillermo Osorno Molina expressed his complete opposition to the initiative, making it impossible to get the 47 votes that are needed.
Osorno, president of the Nicaraguan Christian Walk (CCN) party, argued that the Legislative Branch does not have the authority to cancel municipal elections.
Osorno is an ally in Parliament of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), the main force behind the initiative to annul the elections, and with his vote the PLC would be close to the 47 votes need for it to pass, although this now seems unlikely with the lawmaker's comments.