Leighton Levy, News Editor
THERE IS a wind of change sweeping across Panama, the country which once lured thousands of Jamaicans to work on the Panama Canal when construction began at the start of the last century.
Everywhere you look there are changes happening. What were once army bases are being converted into schools, hotels, and places of business. New hotels are going up in the rainforests, and the freezone is being expanded.
Most significantly, the railway is being revived, connecting both the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts of the Central American country.
These changes have been prompted by the pull-out of the United States from the Panama Canal. For more than 80 years the Americans spent close to US$1 million a day in Panama, a significant source of revenue.
"In one fell swoop we lost three to four hundred million (United States) dollars in direct and indirect benefits," says Henry Ford, a former Minister of Commerce in Panama.
Now that that is all gone, the country seeks to find alternative sources of revenue by turning to domestic industries.
Perhaps the boldest move being made in Panama is the expansion of its freezone area. Considered the world's second largest free trade zone after Hong Kong, with import-export trade averaging US$10.5 billion annually over the past four years, the Colon Freezone operates on 400 hectares on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, with easy access to state-of-the-art port facilities on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
It is now about to become bigger and even better.
An additional 200 hectares is being developed to attract more multinational companies into Panama and by extension the region. This expansion, says Ariadna Sanchez, the marketing director of the CFZ, will significantly lower unemployment in the Colon region. Potential employees will benefit from training at the Colon Freezone Logistics School.
The expansion also ties in with the development of a new logistical centre to be built on land in Corazal, bordering the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal. It is an area that includes offices, cold storage rooms, warehouses and other facilities once used by the U.S. military. It is to become an international warehousing and distribution centre for perishable goods from Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina.
This development, plus the revival of the railway at a cost of US$65 million to shuttle containers from one coast to the other, and expected to be in operation some time between December 2000 and March 2001, have been facilitated by the Inter-Oceanic Region Authority. This is a Government body created in 1993 to promote investment in the Panama Canal areas as the U.S. handed them back.
Eco-tourism
The Panamanian Government is also getting into eco-tourism in a big way. The US$35 million Gamboa Rainforest Resort, owned by Panamanian businessman, Herman Bern of Bern's Hotels and Resorts, is a magnificent facility which opened in June.
Just 17 miles from downtown Panama City, the resort is located near the Chagres River, and the Panama Canal and boasts exotic wildlife, and rustic accommodation. A set of apartments built during the first half of the century to house Panama Canal executives in the old Canal Zone were carefully restored and now offer modern comforts. Forty one-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom units are available to guests.
Not too far away at the Panama Canal itself, there are plans to erect a new visitors' centre, to earn additional revenue. The canal generates annual returns of more than US$600 million.
According to Dazzel Marshall of the Panama Canals Authority's Public Relations Division, making profit from the canal was something that they could not have done had the Americans chosen to remain.
He explains that when the Canal was under American control it was a U.S. federal organisation, hence a non-profit operation. Now that they have gone all that has changed.
The canal, one of the true engineering wonders of the world, attracts more than 400,000 visitors every year, and the logistical centre, which is to be equipped with a bar and restaurant, is expected to provide more jobs. Construction is expected to start in two years.
