The General Comptroller of Costa Rica partially approved the $20.7 million trust fund for the San José-San Ramón road corridor.
In a document published on the General Comptroller website on October 10th of this year, it was reported that the approval is given to the trust fund for this road work that consists of the modernization of a 60 kilometer stretch of road between San Jose and San Ramon.
After having faced multiple delays, it has been reported in Costa Rica that in the second half of 2019, the first works to expand the road between San José and San Ramón will begin.
The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Rodolfo Méndez, explained that "... in the second half of next year the start of the expansion work is planned, including three main bridges with resources from CONAVI contributed to the Trust and other works will be defined at a later date such as exchanges and interconnections."
In Costa Rica, six out of eight banks are opposed to the possibility of lending the $35 million required to finance technical studies for a new highway between San José and San Ramón.
Nacion.com reports that "... Since November 29, the Bank of Costa Rica, administrator of the trust for the highway, knocked on the doors of Banco Nacional, BAC San José, Davivienda, Banco Internacional de Costa Rica (BICSA), the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) and Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) to raise the money. However, those institutions rejected the request for different reasons."
The Costa Rican Ministry of Education used part of a $167 million trust, originally earmarked for the construction of 79 schools, to pay for sanctions imposed by the IADB because of a delay in the execution of those works.
Around $1.7 million was what the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) used to pay the sanction that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) imposed on it for not executing the $167.5 million trust within the established timeframe, money which had been allocated for building 79 educational centers and 24 roofed sports courts.
With the changes to the contract approved by the Comptroller General, Banco de Costa Rica has become the project supervisor of the road expansion project.
"...The main change is that Banco de Costa Rica will be in charge of the Project Management Unit (UAP) and therefore will have to provide the entire administrative team needed to manage the next phases of the route.In addition, it will assume work such as the selection of contractors for different works."
After several months of discussions, approval has finally been given to the Bank of Costa Rica to take full control of the construction project for the route between San José and San Ramón.
The financial structure and execution of the work will now be the responsibility of the Bank of Costa Rica (BCR), which was awarded the contract for administration of the trust.For four months the discussion revolved around the conflict of interest that could arise if full control was given to the BCR, delaying the start of works.
Through a trust with the Bank of Costa Rica, plans are underway to build 30 health areas, 22 financial branches and a storage center for supplies and medicines.
Among the projects that will be built with the resources to be administered by the Bank of Costa Rica through the trust is the William Allen hospital in Turrialba, whosetenderwas announced recently.
The trust agreement between the government and Banco de Costa Rica for the implementation of the expansion project of the San Jose-San Ramon road, has received approval from the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The project, indispensable for the development of the northern part of the Great Metropolitan Area, has suffered from years of delay after successive setbacks with concessionaire construction companies, social protests because of the expected rise in tolls and the burdensome compensation paid by the State to these companies.
In Costa Rica, Infinito Versol S.A. is planning to issue $42 million in debt bonds in the local market in order to finance construction of a residential development of 1,600 homes.
The issue was authorized by the General Superintendency of Securities in November 2016, and the placement in the local market is scheduled to take place before April this year.
The Ministry of Public Works has not ruled out granting in concession the extension of the Florencio del Castillo highway, a project estimated at $350 million.
The law to develop a public works development trust for the expansion of the road to Cartago contemplates the possibility of using a concession to develop the project.
The construction project which will be developed through a trust has three sections of 1.6, 12.6 and 41 kilometers each, with three, four and two lanes in each direction, respectively.
The details of the project"Trust for the San Jose-San Ramon Road Corridor and its ring roads", awarded to Banco de Costa Rica, note that the first tranche from the Metropolitan park La Sabana to the the Interchange of the Circumnavigation, there will be three lanes in each direction with external and internal shoulders and dividing rails.
The government is assessing the concession of construction of the last stretch of 8 kilometers of the new road in San Carlos, for an approximate value of $75 million.
Lack of resources has forced the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to evaluate the option of creating a trust or a grant to complete the work of 44 kilometers between Florencia in San Carlos and Naranjo.
Through a trust with a state insurer $35 million will be used to finance the construction of a major road link in the east of the Greater Metropolitan Area.
The stretch of road between Hacienda Vieja, Curridabat, and the Garantías Sociales roundabout in Zapote, will be developed using a trust, explained Carlos Villanta, Minister of Public Works and Transportation, adding that"...
Up to $372 million of the state pension scheme could be invested in public infrastructure projects in Costa Rica.
Funding public works using Costa Rica's national savings funds saw a new and positive development in matters relating to the management of resources in the economy. The Board of Directors of the Costa Rican Department of Social Security approved a policy that allows allocation of up to $375 million of the reserves from the regime for Disability, Old Age and Death (IVM by its initials in Spanish) to be invested in public infrastructure projects, reported Nacion.com.
A bill has been presented to finance, build, operate and maintain transport infrastructure using trusts.
From the Law project "An Act authorizing the development of transport infrastructure through trusts":
There is a need to rethink the model for financing infrastructure, taking into account the fact that these investments impact on growth expectations for competitiveness.