Waste collection crisis in San Miguelito

The waste collection in the San Miguelito district is still in disarray; in a few days, the contract with the company Recicladora Vida y Salud (Revisalud) will expire, and a new one has not yet been awarded. The tender could even fall through because only two companies participated in the process and are awaiting the decision of the evaluation committee, which has generated criticism from various sectors of the population. It was indicated that 'decades of poor administration bring with them a more complex process to fix a problem as complicated as garbage,' but the important thing is that Mayor Irma Hernández has the will to achieve the work she has set out to do. Two bidders and one offer were presented; legally, one could be discarded as risky, which means that only one offer will have to be evaluated finally, this was exposed through their social networks. Deputy Jorge Bloise countered the criticisms of Cedeño, stating that those who criticize in a 'destructive' way are not seeing the already advanced work of the Mayor's Office. 'When a tender document is not made in a friendly manner, few bidders attend the public act announced.' The scant interest of some companies to provide the service, in the deputy's opinion, is due to the fact that the tender document is not market-friendly, so it can be legally inferred that one of the companies will be discarded as risky due to the wide margin of difference it maintains with the reference price. One of the proposals received was from the National Cleaning Consortium San Miguelito, made up of the companies Pronto Aseo, Retaneq and National Recycler of Panama, whose amount ($264 million) is below the reference price, which is 315 million dollars. The mayor, through a press release, expressed that her intention was to extend the participation deadline until February 18, 2026, to boost competition, but the Municipal Council insisted on maintaining the scheduled date, resulting in only two interested parties. However, among the representatives, the possibility of extending the temporary contracts for collection, transport and final disposal of waste awarded to three different companies for another six months is already being discussed to cover the area's density, which suggests that the tender will be declared void and they will have to resume the search for companies for 2027. One of the most striking was that of deputy Ernesto Cedeño from the Otro Camino Movement (Moca), who stated that the district is currently 'not as pretty' as promised during the electoral campaign. 'I am sure of what she will be able to achieve,' he emphasized. While the second interested party (company Gicaher) offered its services for $500,000.00, a figure that exceeds the entity's budget for said work and that would lead to its disqualification.