Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has ordered an urgent intervention to address a severe garbage collection crisis in the San Miguelito District. He warned the accumulating solid waste could trigger a public health emergency. The Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (AAUD) will lead the effort with extraordinary decentralized funds.
The announcement came directly via social media platform X. It followed a formal request for assistance from San Miguelito Mayor Irma Hernandez to the Secretary of Goals, Jose Icaza, who will now oversee inter-agency coordination. The national government also acknowledged the efforts of Deputy Luis Eduardo Camacho in pushing for solutions.
“The government will allocate extraordinary funds, which will be decentralized to reinforce cleaning tasks,” President Mulino stated. [Translated from Spanish]
This federal action responds to repeated municipal complaints about contractor non-performance. The local government says it has been forced to assume a heavier operational burden as waste piles up in communities.
Contractor Shortfalls Force Municipal Action
Mayor Hernandez recently told the Municipal Council her district is suffering from a drastic reduction in service. This is despite an active contract with the company Revisalud. Official figures presented to council members reveal a stark decline in collected waste.
The volume handled by Revisalud reportedly fell from 14,000 tons in December 2024 to just 9,000 tons in December 2025. Local authorities describe the resulting situation as an “implosion of waste” across numerous neighborhoods. The municipality could not wait for federal help and had already initiated its own stopgap plan.
Dubbed “Mission Cleanup,” the 14-day municipal operation involves renting extra equipment and spending more local funds. It is a temporary bridge while a transitional scheme with three specially hired companies takes effect. Those companies are slated to provide service from January 19 through July 17, 2026.
“The district suffers from the reduction of service, even though the company maintains a valid contract,” Mayor Hernandez said during the council session. [Translated from Spanish]
Even with these measures, local representatives warn of ongoing limitations. Some councilors noted that under the current emergency plan, collection might only happen twice in a 14-day period. They are requesting more resources to rent equipment and ensure daily pickups in the hardest-hit areas, highlighting the scale of the municipal solid waste management failure.
Long-Term Contract Decision Looms
The immediate crisis unfolds against the backdrop of a major long-term decision. Authorities are currently evaluating bids for a 20-year concession to manage the district’s sanitation service. Only one consortium, the National Sanitation Consortium for San Miguelito, remains in the competition with a $264 million proposal.
That evaluation is still under analysis. The current emergency intervention by the Government of Panama is explicitly a short-term containment strategy. Its stated goals are preventing health risks and restoring basic collection services for residents.
Both national and local officials agree on the urgency. The collaboration between President Mulino’s administration and Mayor Hernandez’s office, as seen in the recent irma hernandez-led council demands, aims to stabilize the situation. They seek to manage the waste backlog before awarding a new decades-long contract to handle the district’s sanitation needs.