CABEI and the Costa Rican authorities have signed a contract to extend the "Strategic Road Infrastructure Works Program" for a further $91 million, which finances, among other works, the construction of the Northern Beltway.
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) informed that the $91 million addendum, in addition to the $340 million of the Program, will allow the construction of the Northern Beltway Functional Unit V which maintains a cost of $70.5 million, as well as the reinforcement and modernization of the bridge over the Virilla River on National Route 32.
As a result of the health and economic crisis affecting the country, the government decided to cut the budget assigned to municipalities by $71 million to finance maintenance work on the cantonal road network.
Due to the spread of covid-19, the country is going through a crisis that is reflected in the drop in economic activity, which in April 2020 registered a -9.3% year-on-year variation in its monthly index.
The Costa Rican government assures that the road infrastructure projects are being executed according to the established schedule and that the announced plans for the next few months remain in place.
Directors of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), reported that in the context of the health crisis and with the aim of reviving the economy, it is essential that the planned road works are carried out.
The government and the concessionaire Globalvia signed a letter of understanding for the negotiation process of the studies for the expansion of the road from San Jose to Caldera.
It is estimated that the work will cost about $600 million, a cost that would imply an extension of the concession contract for another 15 years, starting from the expiration of the current concession.
The H. Solís-Estrella consortium was awarded the contracts for the construction of the overpasses at the Taras and La Lima crossings in Cartago.
According to information provided by directors of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), the company is expected to start in the second half of 2020.
The construction of the road to Monteverde in Costa Rica, which has been postponed for years and that in the coming weeks would publish the tender documents, promises to further enhance tourism in the sector.
This is not the first attempt by a government to develop this important road project. In July 2014 the Ministry of Public Works announced that it would publish in 2015 a "direct competitive tender" to asphalt 18 kilometers of road in the province of Puntarenas.
The Costa Rican government plans to apply to the CABEI for a loan to finance maintenance work on 500 bridges of the national road network and other works.
The loan that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) will apply to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) would be ready in May, and would be under the direct financing modality.
In Costa Rica, the H. Solís-TPF Ingeniería consortium proposes to extend a 46-kilometer stretch that connects the bridge over the Virilla River with the Sucio River, a work valued at $643 million and to be paid with tolls for 30 years.
The proposal for the extension of the road section that was presented to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) by the business consortium is still in the analysis phase.
Arguing that traditional taxi services and Uber should coexist simultaneously, the government of Costa Rica presented a proposal to regulate the collaborative transport service.
Uber, the computer platform for passenger transportation that has been operating in Costa Rica for more than three years, has faced, as in other markets, the opposition of local taxi drivers, who claim that they compete under unequal conditions.
In Costa Rica, a law project proposes to disable construction companies that do not comply with contracts with state entities for a period of five years.
The proposed law is analyzed by the Economic Affairs Committee of the Congress, and according to representatives of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), if approved, the law would allow sanctioning construction companies that do not complete the works agreed with the State.
The plan to build a new international airport in Orotina, which ex-president Solis presented grandiloquently last year, is not a priority for the current Costa Rican government.
A year and a half ago, the administration of President Luis Guillermo Solis announced that the international air terminal would open in a first phase in 2027, and the overall cost of the project was estimated at $2 billion.
In Costa Rica, the government approved a decree that exonerates from the payment of the selective consumption tax to second-hand electric cars that are 5 or less years in service.
To encourage the use of electric vehicles in the country, the Alvarado administration signed the Executive Decree 41426-H-MINAE-MOPT, which grants a fiscal benefit to second-hand electric vehicles whose antiquity is equal to or less than 5 years from the year of its model.
The government has announced that feasibility studies will be financed with IDB funds to expand the stretch of road between San José and Río Frío.
As explained by the head of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), Rodolfo Méndez Mata, the studies will begin in four or five months, and will take almost a year and a half.
The Alvarado administration has decided to terminate the contract with the company in charge of building the road to San Carlos, a road whose construction was started thirteen years ago yet still remains unfinished.
The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Rodolfo Méndez Mata, said that his plan is to hire three other construction companies and two subcontractors to take charge, separately, of solving the problems that are affecting the work.
The Ministry of Public Works plans to approve in May designs for overpasses to be built on the Florencio del Castillo highway, which connects San José with Cartago.
In a statement sent by the Ministry of Public Works, it was explained that the overpasses will be built at the intersections of Taras and La Lima, both in Cartago.
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