Colon will become an outlet for products

The approval from the Cabinet of the Colon Project - Free Port will bring big benefits to the province, an economic reactivation that will allow the city to become an outlet for products.

This is the opinion of the president of Logistics Business Council (COEL), Severo Sousa, who warned that with this measure a new market will be added to the province.

“We celebrate the approval of the project. It’s an important advance in the right direction,” said Sousa.

Sousa pointed out that there are still matters to be discussed and the Decree Law 18 of June 17 of 1948 was improved, the law which created the Canal Free Zone (ZLC) as an autonomous entity of the State.

On that same note, the president of the User Association of ZLC, Marco Téllez, explained that the Colon Project - Free Port will have a positive impact, but not on the short run, since it won’t solve the problem of the free zone.

“The authorities of the Government informed us that soon we will be receiving the measures that will take place to help us leave the crisis and that it has to do with the reduction of some fees,” said Téllez.

The minister of Commerce and Industries, Melitón Arrocha, detailed that through Colon - Free Port as well as the ZLC, the 16 streets of the city will benefit with some exception, like the exoneration of the import tariff for foreigners.

The Panamanians, according to Arrocha, will be able to buy merchandise for an amount of up to $1,000, every six months, without paying taxes.

“The idea of encouraging two visits a year instead of one and allowing the purchasing for up to $2,000 a year, which is what is allowed for foreigners to buy without having to declare it through Customs,” he said.

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