The opening of the container terminal that is being built by APM Terminals in Limón will occur in February 2019, and not in January 2018, as originally planned.
Just weeks after APM Terminals authorities announced that the work was to be delayed until mid-2018, they have now announced that the problems that arose during the construction process are even bigger, and will result in a delay of more than one year from the date initially agreed.
Due to several constructive defects, the Dutch company APM Terminals anticipates that the opening of the container terminal will take place in June 2018 and not in January, as originally planned.
According to authorities of the concessionaire, among the inconveniences that have occurred in the process of constructing the port terminal are poor compaction of the surface of the 40 hectare artificial island, and damages in 20 meters of the breakwater, among other things.APM Terminals estimates that the work will be completed in June 2018, and not on January 18, as indicated in the contract.
The Ministry of Public Works does not know how to finance the 2.8 kilometers access road that has to build as part of the agreement with the concessionaire APM Terminals, in charge of the construction of the mega port in Moin.
Ministry officials admit they do not have any funds defined or know which company will build the four-lane road that will connect Route 32 to the entrance of the container terminal to be built by APM Terminals in Moin.
The construction of the new container terminal in Moin has rekindled business hotels, corporate machinery, transportation and others, in an area deprived of development factors.
Renting working machinery, hiring companies for events and renting hotel rooms are just some of the new business deals being generated in Limon, since construction of mega-port project at Moin started.
In Costa Rica an order has been given to start work no later than January 19, and according to APM Terminals, they will start with construction of the breakwater and dredging of the access channel.
According to the instructions given by the National Tender Board, the construction of a port terminal in Moin should be starting in exactly one month. In order to get started with the first works, 600 workers will need to be hired.
The Environmental Technical Secretariat has approved environmental feasibility studies presented by APM Terminals for the construction of a port terminal dedicated to container ships.
After a long process affected by intense pressures from various sectors, especially trade unions, the environmental impact study was approved by the Environmental Technical Secretariat, giving the green light to the start of construction by the concessionaire APM Terminals. According to company reports, construction could begin in less than a month.
The Solis administration has recognized and supported the project which was presented in 2007 for the construction of a container transshipment port with an investment of $900 million.
America's Gateway Development Corporation (AMEGA) is the company - together with major contributions from Canadian, British and American funding - which proposed the project to the government of Costa Rica.
Although in court the strike was declared illegal, the government compromised on not discounting from wages for the days not worked by the strikers in return for lifting of the strike.
After managing to avoid wage deductions for having been absent from their duties for 15 days, the Workers Syndicate of Japdeva (Sintrajap) agreed to suspend the strike and resume duties as normal today at the ports of Limon and Moin.
Although the strike was declared illegal by the Labour Court of Costa Rica, the union has rejected the government's proposal which promised marketing efforts at the ports in conflict.
Unionists remain steadfast in their rejection of the concession contract clause which states that the terminal operated by APM will be the exclusive operator of specialized container ships.
Once again conservationism is at the service of sectoral interests, paralyzing investment in infrastructure which is essential for halting the deteriorating competitiveness of the economy.
EDITORIAL
In Costa Rica an investment of billions of dollars to build a container port has been held up by six years of legal proceedings, and added to this will be a further 5 months due to maneuvers made by uncompromising conservationists in league with unionists.
A constitutional court has rejected appeals by port unionists and announced that the construction of the Container Terminal at Moin will begin in early 2015.
From a statement issued by APM Terminals:
San José, Costa Rica, October 9. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Costa Rican Government and APM Termináis in an appeal filed by the port workers unión against the 33-year concession contract for the new Moin Container Terminal (TCM) in Limón on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
APM Terminals will have until October to comply with the requirements and outstanding permits to begin construction of the container port in the Costa Rican Caribbean.
Through a consensus among the three parties (Japdeva, National Concessions Council and APM Terminals) it has been agreed to extend for a period of three months the suspension agreed last April.
The Environmental Technical Secretariat of Costa Rica has suspended works in the pit which was to provide material to APM Terminals to build the port in Moin.
On top of the long list of obstacles that have impeded the progress of the construction of the new port in the Costa Rican Caribbean, the Technical Environmental Secretariat has stopped work on the the pit in La Asuncion, in response to a request by Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) for a revocation, claiming that "... the expropriations in the Banana River, located near the Cerro La Asunción, threaten the water supply in the province of Limón."
There are so many obstacles faced by the project being run by Dutch APM Terminals that it begs the question as to whether the Costa Rican government really wants it to happen.
Since it was awarded construction of the New Mega Port for specialized container ships in Moin, the Dutch company APM Terminals has faced dozens of lawsuits and other legal measures in the courts, which has maintained continuous doubts about the realization of the project.
In Costa Rica a judicial ruling has lifted a restriction in order to advance the construction of port for container ships in Moin.
In February the Japdeva Workers Union (Sintrajap) filed a motion to prevent two km of road being built for the construction of the New Moin Mega Container port and in response to an appeal, the Administrative Court imposed as a precautionary measure suspension of the work.