$600 million Port Project Hindered by Environmental Issues

The Supreme Court of Justice in Panama has accepted the appeal for legal protection brought against the construction project of a multimodal port in Isla Margarita, province of Colon.

Monday, January 29, 2018

The Environmental Impact Study (EIA) that Panama Colón Container Port Inc. submitted at the end of 2016 to build a port terminal has been temporarily voided, while the Supreme Court of Justice analyzes the case before issuing a definitive ruling.

The petition for an injunction against the project was presented by the NGO Centro de Incidencia Ambiental de Panamá, which argues that the dredging works that will be carried out will negatively affect the coral reefs and mangroves in the area.

Prensa.com reports that "...For this port project, the Ministry of Environment approved a category II study in 2016, which established that the work would be done on 39 terrestrial hectares and 22 marine hectares. In addition, it specified that 356 thousand cubic meters of seabed would be extracted, in order to make a channel for approaching and berthing at the port with the appropriate conditions and characteristics to allow entry, maneuvering and berthing of superpanamax vessels."

Regarding the Supreme Court's decision to accept the appeal, representatives from Panama Colón Container Port Inc. commented that "... the port terminal is a project that is currently investing more than $1,100 million and whose developers chose Panama as the premiere country in Latin America in which to deploy its investment, given the conditions of legal security and the policies of logistic development that the country has."

See here details of the EIA for the construction of the port. 

According to the EIA, these are some of the works included in the project: 

- Dredging of an estimated 365,600 m3 over an area of 22 ha. With the main objective being to deepen the entire area of operations for ships up to 16m below the low tide.
- Filling in of the sea bottom of the concession area with an amount of 480,000 cubic meters.
- Construction of a quay measuring 1,495 meters.
- Construction of an administrative area with a total area of 12,074.79 square meters.
- Construction of an operations and planning control area with a total area of 6878.54 m2, in this section a building will be erected a with an area of 1,008 m 2 on one level, with a height of 3.60 meters.

¿Busca soluciones de inteligencia comercial para su empresa?

Are you interested in construction projects in Central America?

Receive information about our monthly report including a complete list of all the major and most important construction projects seeking government authorization.

Request more information:









this site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google's privacy policy and terms of service.
Need assistance? Contact us
(506) 4001-6423


More on this topic

Environmentalism Vs. Development

January 2018

The Panamanian Supreme Court of Justice has revoked the resolution that had approved the environmental impact study to build an oil pipeline that would supply fuel to Tocumen airport.

The ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice comes just a few days after the same institution received an injunction against a project to build a port terminal on Isla Margarita, Colón, with an estimated investment of $600 million. Also annulled by the Court, in mid-January, was an EIA to set up a 150 MW wind farm, which was to be built in the Fortuna forest reserve.

$400 million investment in Thermoelectric Plant

March 2017

In Panama the Chinese consortium Martano has submitted an environmental impact study to build a 423 MW combined cycle power plant in the village of Puerto Pilon, province of Colon.

Data from the Information System on Construction Projects in Central Area Commercial provided by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData, shows that on December 1, 2016 the company Martano Inc submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to Miambiente to build an energy generation plant.

$594 million Port in Colon

November 2016

Panama Colon Container Port has submitted an Environmental Impact Study to build a port terminal in Isla Margarita, Cristobal, province of Colon.

Panama Colon Container Port Inc. presented the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the construction of a container port in the area comprising the sector Margarita Bay in the village of Cristobal, district and province of Colon. The project is called "Panama Colon Container Port" and requires an estimated investment of nearly $600 million.

New Port in Colon

March 2012

The government of Panama has granted in concession 27 acres in Isla Margarita to be used to build a container port that will cost $600 million.

The Maritime Authority of Panama and the company Panamá Canal Colón Port Inc. have signed a contract for the construction, operation and management of a container terminal and general cargo area in Isla Margarita, Colon, at a cost of $593.9 million and for a period of 20 years.

ok