Because Panama’s garbage crisis remains in the hands of the City Council until January 2011 it has been forced to act to fill in the two month gap.

The Council  has approved the spending of $200,000 to rent five garbage trucks and additional money to purchase 10 to 15 trucks “in the near future”.
It also approved $30,000 for each district board to use on collecting garbage.

The action came after Minister of Health Franklin Vergara issued a statement  that clarified that the municipality still has to handle garbage collection until Jan. 3, 2011, when the responsibility will be turned over to a federal agency.

Garbage has been piling up in the city for weeks, as the existing agency, Dimaud, has been unable to keep up with collections.