Notwithstanding the economic uncertainty in Costa Rica, businessmen in the pet care and attention sector maintain positive expectations in the short and medium term.
The high fiscal deficit and the depreciation of the local currency, that has accelerated in the last two months, are some of the issues that have generated uncertainty in several productive sectors of the country.
The contest will be published in the second half of this year and the funds will come from a loan granted by CABEI.
Funding for the works comes from a $340 million loan that the Government of Costa Rica signed this week with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE).
The Northern Ring Road will be a 4-lane highway that will begin on Route 32 and continue west until reaching the intersection with Circunvalacion, opposite Burger King in La Uruca. The complete length of this section includes the largest viaduct built in the country, at 3.8 kilometers long, between the intersection of Route Guapiles and a sector close to Leon XIII, in Tibás.
The Government of Costa Rica has signed a loan for $340 million to be used for road infrastructure, among which includes the last stretch of the ring road between La Uruca and the intersection with Route 32.
Francisco Jiménez, Minister of Transport said that work on the last stretch of the ring road includes the construction of two overpasses, one at the intersection of Route 32 and another in the La Uruca - Colima Tibás intersection.
As of August, the Ministry of Public Works will be putting out to tender works for the expansion to four lanes of the North American highway between Cañas and Liberia.
The works to be carried out on the stretch of road from Cañas to Liberia, are for a length of 50.610 kilometers (fifty kilometers, six hundred and ten meters), starting at Km 166 +300 (approximately 600 meters before Rio Canas) and ending at Km 216 +910 (approximately 600 meters after Quebrada Piches).
The price reduction of the new dock at Puerto Caldera will require importers to have a lot of trucks to carry their loads at once.
After three years of back and forth with the project by Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera (manager of the dock) and the Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports (INCOP) an agreement has been reached to lower the construction costs from the $44 million projected to $30 million, by eliminating the construction of silos and a conveyor belt for bulk products.
The Ministry of Public Works has awarded the construction of 28 bridges that are part of a $495 million batch of projects promoted by the Government.
The bridges will be built over four domestic routes (247, 249, 138 and 733).
The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Francisco Jiménez Reyes added that "everything is ready to put out to tender a second set of bridges for domestic routes: RN112 San Isidro-Heredia (six bridges), RN18-Nicoya Tempisque (two bridges) and RN14 RioClaro-Golfito (six bridges), unlike the first set, these 14 structures will have two lanes", noted an article on the web portal of La Prensa Libre.
Although a clear political will is still lacking, a commuter train to the Costa Rican capital is being seen as an imperative and most likely an excellent business venture.
The new project being studied by the ministry of public works and transport would cost $250 million ($100 million less than that proposed by the previous administration of Karla Gonzáelz).
The project for construction of the Container Terminal (Terminal de Contenedores) has triumphed over the two lawsuits that sought to curb its award.
The Controller General's Office flatly rejected as inadmissible (the union has no legitimate interest, and is not a bidder in this process) the appeal filed by the Workers Union JAPDEVA (SINTRAJAP) against the award of the project to the Dutch firm APM Terminals.
There are too many attorneys and too few engineers on the staff of the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Works.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT in Spanish) appears to have no solution to the obvious lagging behind of Costa Rica in terms of public infrastructure. The Ministry, which upon completion of the first year of the Chinchilla administration, exhibits very few projects in progress and too many initiatives still in the design and approval process.
The Costa Rican judiciary dismissed the lawsuit filed by the National Banana Chamber against the concession of the Moin Terminal Container to APM Terminals.
Randall Quirós, legal representative of the National Banana Chamber, stated that the Court rejected their petition due to "issues of form but not substance".
The lawsuit filed by the Chamber stated that the bidding rules lacked technical, environmental and financial studies.
Projects include road construction at Bajos de Chilamate-Vuelta Kooper, widening of the Inter-American Highway, construction and rehabilitation of bridges as well as road maintenance.
The President and the Minister of MOPT, Francisco Jimenez, announced an international tender for the widening of the Inter-American Highway at the section between Cañas and Liberia (50.6km) and a tender to build the new road from Bajos de Chilamate Bajos de Chilamate en Sarapiquí y Vuelta de Kooper en San Carlos (27 km)in Sarapiquí to Vuelta de Kooper in San Carlos (27 km), which will be vital in connecting the Northern area of the country with the Caribbean.
President Laura Chinchilla declared of public interest the construction of the international airport in the South.
Declaring the airport a “national interest” can facilitate the project´s progress.
Elpais.cr. reports, "The executive order is for the first phase of the project, which includes studies and processes leading to construction, be completed in 2012, so the second stage is in advanced construction phase within two years."
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".
One of the projects would require $221 million to widen the route connecting the capital with the Caribbean port town of Limón.
The proposals were presented to the Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister, Yang Jiechi, by his Costa Rican counterpart, René Castro, with whom he has signed a Technical and Economic Cooperation Agreement.
Francisco Jiménez, Costa Rica's transport minister, told AFP that, "we have invited Chinese companies to invest and the government to collaborate on several projects". This would mark the second stage of cooperation between Costa Rica and Beijing since the countries initiated diplomatic relations.
Several infrastructure projects cannot be started until the Legislative Assembly approves a $850 million loan from the IDB and a $52 million one from CAF.
These projects are the highway to Heredia, the new road to San Carlos, the link between Bajos de Chilamate-Vuelta Kooper, concluding the northern Ring Road (Circunvalación) and enlarging the Florencio del Castillo Highway.