Through a statement sent on Wednesday afternoon, the Mayor’s Office of Panama clarified that although they have budgeted $41 million under the line of consultancies in the capital municipality from 2019 to date, the mayor’s office led by the PRD José Luis Fábrega “has not hired consultancies ”.
The statement is the result of a publication by the newspaper La Prensa in which it was announced that in the last four years, the budget for this item by the capital’s mayor’s office exceeds $41 million. This figure is well above what was budgeted by the second municipality with the most onerous total. This is the district of Arraiján, in West Panama, with a four-year budget of $1,172,000.
The amounts originally published by La Prensa emanate from a document delivered by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to the lawyer Ernesto Cedeño, after a request for formal information.
The document contemplates the total amount budgeted for consultancies by state entities, including municipalities. However, it does not break down the expense or detail what types of consultancies would have been hired.
The mayor’s office, through the statement, explains that the current administration “has honored the payments of two consultancies that were hired in the past municipal government.”
The first is related to the diagnosis, conceptual design and technical specifications, among others, of the infrastructure project on Uruguay Street for an amount of $1 million 16 thousand 607.
The second refers to the service for the formulation of the District Strategic Plan, Local Policies and Local Land Management Plan, which meant an investment of $3 million 114 thousand 444, according to the current administration.
The mayor’s office, through the published statement, assures that the administration is committed to continuing with the tasks and projects that benefit the citizens of the 26 districts of the capital district.
