The Government has come to contradict the promise of President Juan Carlos Varela, on providing drinking water to the population of Panama but, on the contrary, has come to sharpen the crisis.
Since the Government began, East and West sectors of Panama, Panama Center, and provinces such as Colón, live resigned to not getting the vital liquid, as an improvement about this issue is yet not perceived, after 23 months of administration.
This has been constant object of criticism and street closures, because this promise was set in the plan of Government: "The people first".
In his work proposal, President Varela based his ideas on a basic health project, called 100/0, which consists in "providing drinking water nationwide, 24 hours a day (...)".
Even with an estimated investment of 1,500 million dollars, through institutions such as the National Council for Sustainable Development (Conades) and the Institute of Aqueducts and Sewage systems (Idaan).
However, the reality has been another, and towns such as Las Nubes, Altos de Valle del Sol, Sector 8, Valle del Sol, 28 de Noviembre, Los Tecales, Las Cascadas 1-2, 4 Torres, Boyalita, Bóyala and Peña Blanca, in the West sector of Panama, must rely on a makeshift distribution system.
This is so, despite the fact that the President asked for "certainty that we will finish with the torment of needing to get up early to be able to get water".
However, it was known that out of 137 projects that are planned to be built at present, about 79 have a 0% physical progress, and 35 other have registered less than 20%, according to the latest performance report revealed by Idaan, in April 2016.
Among them, the aqueduct of the Chilibre-Pedernal line with a 10% advance, and the distribution network of metropolitan area with only 4%.
And that is that with the lack of water supply and distribution network there is rationalization that, coupled with other factors such as the drought, has caused a negative impact on the quality of life of Panamanians.
Even this situation has impacted the economy of regions like Chitré, Parita, Tonosi, and Los Santos, in the region of Azuero, which last summer, had to face the crisis with measures such as the supply of 20 thousand boxes of bottled water, provided by the Government.
This situation has even affected the tourism sector in provinces like Bocas del Toro, where last month, 60% of users had difficulties because they have no safe drinking water, for nearly a week, after a problem with suction pumps.
Faced with this the Varela Administration has resorted to drilling wells to provide water to areas such as Villa Mireya, Cermeno, Lídice, Villa Rosario, El Mangote, El Celaje and Nuevo Empredaro, in Western Panama, because an immediate response was not received, pointed the inhabitants of these sectors.
Also due to the constant damage of water purification plants like Las Mendozas, which supplies water to the large populations of La Chorrera, Vista Alegre and Arraijan, in the new province.
The Government attributes the construction of wells to the delay involved in carrying out projects of great significance produced by the bureaucratic delays and inflation in prices.
In this sense, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Infrastructure of the National Assembly, Jose Antonio Dominguez, said that once the public acts are performed, only a very short time is allowed so that they begin to proceed, and when the Government sees that they are delaying with constructions, calls of attention are made.
"You have to follow the legal process; the Government must meet the promise and must supply potable water and latrines with adequate hygienic conditions", he said.
This necessity is a priority, according to the Panameñista legislator, but that to date it has not been possible to execute the billion dollars that were budgeted.
"The intention is not to leave a project unconcluded so that the next administration take on the responsibility," said the parliamentarian.
However, sectors have said that the delay in addressing the problem of the water carries the intention to privatize the system.
In this sense, political commentator Juan Carlos Tapia assessed that "the best fertilizer for the privatization of water in Panama is the inability of the Government to solve the problem".
Even Member of PRD Zulay Rodríguez said that "they want to privatize water to give it to a company, and then force us to purchase bottled water".
