It is time that the region starts to balance conservation policies with the needs of development so as to allow an escape from poverty for those who are currently held down by it and who at the same time are holding the rest of society hostage.

Three years after having started studies and investing $129 million in feasibility studies and design of the Diquis hydroelectric dam, the project has stalled pending a consultation process with native indigenous communities in the area.

"The (indigenous) consultation is vital in order to complete the environmental impact study which must be subjected to scrutiny by the national environmental technical secretariat (Setena)."

"With the Diquís we are in one of those endless discussions in which Costa Rica seems to have been engaged and wasted part of its energy and its ability to reach a consensus,' said the Minister of environment and energy Rene Castro in an article on Nacion.com, who urged the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad to make an effort to speed up the procedures."

Source: Nacion.com

More on this topic

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March 2016

A story that has now been going on for twenty years could be resumed with the adoption of a legal framework to be used to consult with the natives living in the area where the 650 MW plant would be built.

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In Costa Rica a 650 MW hydropower project in which $129 million has already been invested, has made no progress in 20 years, pending an "intercultural dialogue" which has not even begun.

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The problem is not that infrastructure is to be built in indigenous territories without dialogue .

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The great hydroelectric project in southern Costa Rica, is back on the discussion table, with debate centering around the necessary vision on future energy supply versus the strong opposition by indigenous and environmentalist groups.

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Hydroelectric Megaplant at Risk in Costa Rica

April 2011

Complaints by indigenous natives from the El Diquís area are jeopardizing the project.

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