The Supreme Court has annulled an agreement reached with port workers who endorsed the concession of the Limón and Moín port operations.
The ruling also orders the reinstatement of the previous union board of directors, who opposed the concession of port operations to private companies.
The article in Nacion.com indicates that last night the head of the Ministry for Transport and Public Works (MOPT) was, "still unclear what the issues were with the terms and conditions being drawn up by Costa Rica's Atlantic Port Development Management Board (JAPDEVA in Spanish) for the concession of the old piers".
The new electricity bill proposes the creation of a wholesale electricity market for private companies.
This market, to be supervised by Costa Rica's Public Services Regulator (ARESEP), will be guaranteed 35% of total national electricity demand over the next 10 years.
"The regulator must define the sale of electricity through a pricing scale determined by parameters such as the energy source and cost," comments Nacion.com.
The upcoming publication of the conditions for the opening up of telecommunications leads operators to request clearer rules.
Telecommunication companies have asked Costa Rica's Telecommunications Regulator (SUTEL) to provide greater clarity in several areas including procedures for installing Radio Bases, interfacing with networks belonging to the state-owned electricity and telecommunications provider (ICE), and microwave communication.
Costa Rica’s Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies has urged the government to speed up the opening of the market.
According to Román Fallas, president of the Chamber, the market has not been properly opened and the process demonstrates “a lack of political coordination” between the Environment Ministry, the regulator (SUTEL) and the current state-owned electricity and telecommunications provider (ICE).
Laura Chinchilla will head an administration that will continue Oscar Arias’ work, although with differences due to her distinct personality.
An inspection of her cabinet leaves no doubt that Chinchilla will assume continuity policies. Some of its ministers belonged to Arias’. Others served with Figueres Olsen in 1994-1998, and many are very close to her.
The board of the National Road Council (Conavi), stopped a process to award 22 contracts worth $226 million.
Conavi staff had recommended awarding all contracts to a single company, “Constructora Hernán Solís”.
Back in October 2009, Conavi invited companies to bid on these 3-year road maintenance contracts. 12 companies participated in the process, but 10 were disqualified.
The Government will decide whether to offer two or three bids for the port concessions in Limon in January, after a meeting with operators interested in participating in the process.
This was announced by the minister of Institutional Coordination, Marco Vargas, who confirmed that the Government wanted to have the meeting in December but had to cancel due to the unavailability of seats on flights at this time of the year.
The Costa Rican government ordered "urgent action" to solve a manpower shortage in the nation's ports.
The shortage is particularly acute in the Caribbean port of Moín. Under the new measure, the nation's port management authority, Japdeva, will be able to hire personnel without going through the usual procedures for contracting government employees.