Got a note from Scott Harris this morning regarding the rights of possession question I put to him yesterday. What he said was very encouraging:
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I actually had a long conference call with both Paul and Sam yesterday as well and they did tell me that they had spoken to you. Yes, we are joining with them and we will be part of their steering committee.
They asked some questions to me about our ROP and they really weren’t up to speed on the Law 2 that passed in Jan. 2006. But the bottom line is that we have ALWAYS been well aware and talked very openly that banks will not lend on ROP property. That is why we clearly understand that we need to get the property titled BEFORE we complete any units in the ROP sections, Phase 2-3 mostly.
You may or may not know but we were working with Pardini and Associates on this action and we contributed to the lobbying for this bill to pass – to allow island property to be titled. The other developers in the Pearl Islands also lobbied for this as well. But if you remember, President Torrijos even came to Bocas to officially sign the bill as a show of support for Bocas. For the last year or so, this was the chief inititive we required of Pardini, to get the other roughly 20% our lands titled (the rest already are).
After very little action, we finally have taken this back... and given this job to some other attorneys, and they submitted our package in the middle of May. There has been some progress made but not much in the last couple of months. But our people are constantly there hounding them.
So our plan right now, is to not build any units on ROP until we are sure that we will get them titled in time. Our newest attorneys thought they could get it done this year and we hope that it happens. We are not quite ready to build in Phase 2 or 3 anyway so this hasn’t hurt us yet. We are optimistic that we will get our lands titled as this has already been done in the Pearl Islands since this bill has been passed.
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That sounds very positive to me, especially that there is a precedent with the Pearl Islands.
Mick @ Lot 83
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5 comments:
The fact that they're not going to build on ROP property until it is converted to titled is very good news! Thanks for pursuing this.
It sounds like Red Frog is taking responsibility. Sounds like I will get to say good things about them once again.
Follow up this morning from JJ Espino of Pardini and Associates:
"I submitted the title application quite a long time on behalf of the whole project, I am delivering an update this week and will certainly let you know."
More to come!
The law underlying the hope to move RFBC ROP to TITLE is almost three years old. The single area of Panama sucsessfully designated under the new law created so much havoc that a moratorium was placed on any further designations, including Bocas Del Toro. There is now now a requirement for multiple public reviews and analysis before developers can petition the legislators which are estimated to require at least 18 months. The aspect of the law that particularly got the attention of the locals is that it is a benefit only provided to developers. Individuals and most local Panamanians who have lived on ROP which has been in their families for generation do not qualify.
I checked with Scott Harris on the issues 507 (as if that is your real name! :-) raised and here were his replies to the specific points:
"The law was passed Jan 2006 – more like 1.5 years. And this happened faster that we ever thought. I remember telling people in the beginning that we hoped it would come along sometime in the next 5 years so we were literally shocked to see the government create, debate and pass the law in less than a year."
As to the requirement for multiple public revies, he said, "I understand they are trying to put this in place in Bocas but it won’t affect us as we already have all of our approvals.
"It was to stop the speculator who would come in, buy cheap ROP land –convert it to title and then sell it, pocketing all the cash and going back to their home country to leave nothing for Panama in the deal. Developers provide jobs not only for construction but create resorts where they employ many people not to mention create a place for tourists to come so major benefits to the country."
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