Panama City sees the flip side of building bonanza

Spurred by foreign investment and a real estate boom, Panama City is becoming the Sao Paulo of Central America, reports The Times' Chris Kraul in this story.

"Home buyers and investors are flocking here from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Europe and the United States," Kraul writes.

"Its cosmopolitan ambience has a renegade element: Panama has long been and still is a staging ground for illegal arms going south to Colombian armed groups and for drugs traveling north to U.S. consumers."

" ... Panama's leaders insist their country is on a trajectory toward First World status and respectability."

"But the rapid growth has exposed the country's infrastructure as woefully inadequate for its good fortune. Monumental traffic snarls, shortages of housing, electricity and water shortfalls and ugly land-use spats are the flip side of the bonanza."

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City

Photo: Modern Panama City rises across the bay from Casco Antiguo, the historic quarter. A building boom is transforming the capital's skyline. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Dennis Smith]

I read and “Panama City: a boomtown with growing pains” and I have to say you’re right on the mark. As a resident of Panama, I have seen the country outgrow itself constantly. As a developer, I know the headaches first hand.

I would like to put another mega-project on your list of potential Panama success stories: The Panama International Merchandise Mart (www.pimm.com) . This is a unique business in Latin America and promises to be very important to the region and Panama as well.