business & economy

Anti-dam protests persist

They say that construction projects mean jobs, and to a certain extent that's true. But the dam under construction on the Rio Teta in San Carlos, nominally a hydroelectric project and almost certainly for some other economic purpose but called a power generator to avoid environmental and safety regulations, has some people in San Carlos protesting. The construction jobs are likely to be offset by the loss of a shrimp breeding area and a surfing beach down near the river's mouth, and those activities create jobs too. Plus on this project the construction work and materials are patently shoddy and thus, some fear, likely unsafe.

The San Carlos dam project is only one of several that's drawing protests from neighbors in various parts of Panama. These controversies tend to have specific local issues, but a common thread is that many people don't like the private appropriation of rivers and water resources that have long been in the public domain.