While the concessionaire, the Chinese company China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), in charge of the work announced that it plans to subcontract a Costa Rican construction company for part of the project, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) – Ministry of Public Works – states that it has not been notified.
The remaining stretch of the 107 kilometers of the Ruts 32 comprising the project in its entirety, between the junction of Rio Frio and Matina, will be built by CHEC.
La Nacion reports that “…Wang Lei Lei, Deputy General Manager of China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), clarified that the fact that they are looking for a local firm to take charge of that section does not mean that they will delegate the responsibility, nor that they will cede the supervision or management of the work.”
CHEC had planned to start the work this week with the felling of trees along the sides of the road. The project is planned to take 34 months, but representatives from the construction are blaming the “Costa Rican bureaucracy” for the delays
In a press release, the MOPT stated that “… CHEC has not yet officially communicated to the MOPT, through the Executing Unit, their intention to subcontract work to a Costa Rican construction company.”
The MOPT’s deputy minister of Infrastructure, Guiselle Alfaro Bogantes, added: “If this possibility exists, contractually speaking, it must be officially communicated to the Administration, because we have the responsibility of verifying whether the selected company complies technically, that is to say, has the capacity to take on the task.”
