Cascal N.V. Collects Outstanding Balance of $7 Million from Panamanian State-Owned Water Authority -- LONDON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

This news item was not broadcast by the Panama government PR machine. It would be nice to know if the rate increase by APSA was legal or if the Panamanian consumer was just told "deal with it".

Cascal N.V. Collects Outstanding Balance of $7 Million from Panamanian State-Owned Water Authority -- LONDON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
"LONDON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cascal N.V. (NYSE: HOO), a leading provider of water and wastewater services in eight countries, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Aguas de Panama, SA, ("APSA"), has successfully collected the outstanding balance of approximately $7 million due from Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales ("IDAAN"), the Panamanian state-owned water authority.
APSA had been in discussions for more than two years with Panamanian authorities to resolve the issue of non-payment of rate increases applied for in accordance with the terms of its contract with IDAAN. Consistent with these discussions, IDAAN formally approved all of the rate increases applied for by APSA, accepted all of the corresponding invoices and sourced the necessary funds from the Ministry of Finance."