Despite the new president having reaffirmed his government's commitment to the project at Moin to be run by the Dutch company APM Terminal, his own lawmakers are supporting the formation of a committee to re-analyze the concession contract.
While President Luis Guillermo Solis is touring the United States looking for investors and providing legal certainty to foreign companies, inside the country space is still being given to obviously bias obstructionism on the part of port official unions. Now it is the sphere of the Legislature where a petition will be filed in an attempt to halt the project.
The government of Costa Rica has put on hold "indefinitely" the process for the concession of the ports of Limon and Moin.
Caught between the demands of port efficiency by the productive sectors and the real power of the union, the Chinchilla administration has back tracked on its intention to grant concessions to private companies for the modernization and operation of the ports of Limon and Moin, and now intends to invest about $70 million to make sure that this essential modernization takes place, while keeping both terminals under the management of the Port Management Board of the Atlantic (JAPDEVA).
The labor union of the Caribbean ports of Costa Rica re-elected directors which are radically opposed to concession the ports to private investors.
At the same time in which dredging has started in order to increase capacity of tankers docking at Moin -with an expansion of the oil terminal which will be tendered in March 2011 - the workers voted overwhelmingly to re-elect union leaders who oppose granting management of the ports to the private sector.
Tariffs in force since 2003 and salaries that absorb 80% of the budget have led to losses during 2010.
As of July 2010, losses had already reached $4 million.
Allan Hidalgo, president of Costa Rica's Atlantic Port Development Management Board (JAPDEVA in Spanish), believes that the problem lies in the way prices are calculated.
Costa Rica's official newspaper will publish today the bidding rules for the concession of Port Moín.
According to sources from the National Concessions Council, the bidding rules for Port Moín concession should be published today in the Official Gazette, with modifications by the General Comptroller of the Republic. The government was finally unable to tender Port Limón and Port Moín simultaneously, as was the initial idea. This is due to the ongoing dispute between the government and the worker's union of Port Limón.
Leadership from the Limón port workers union have so far opposed all offers from the government.
The union known as Sintrajab, which reunites workers from state-owned Japdeva, is in a standoff with the Costa Rican Government, regarding the concession of operation and administration of the ports to a private entity.
The new Costa Rican government's proposal was rejected by the union, whose consent must be obtained for the concession of services to third parties.
The collective agreement that governs the relationship between Limón Port employees and JAPDEVA, the entity manager, has the force of law. Therefore, any project to hire third parties to perform tasks at the port must be formally approved by the union.
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