(QCOSTARICA) The National Highway Council (Consejo Nacional de Vialidad – Conavi) spent ¢17 billion colones on maintaining 972 kilometres of national roads without achieving any real improvements, says the latest report by the National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models (Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Modelos Estructurales – LANAMME).
According to the report, 24% of the budget was used in “inefficient” works.
To make matters worse, of the ¢17 billion, ¢8.7 billion spent worsened conditions on 655 kilometres of road.
Some of the roads that were supposed have improved, but instead worsened, are the Ruta 1 (San Jose – Peñas Blancas); Ruta 2 (San Jose – Paso Canoas); Ruta 5 (San Jose – Tibas); and Ruta 39 (the Circunvalacion), the ring road.
“Although we can see some improvements, they were achieved mainly on routes warranting reconstruction,” the statement said.
The analysis indicates that the authorities simply attend to patching asphalt, and at a high cost.
The findings also indicate that 9.3% of the 5,268 kilometres of national roads need to be rebuilt.
The report come one day after the ministro de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT), Carlos Segnini, announced that the CONAVI will be phased out and replaced by the National Institute of Infrastructure (Instituto Nacional de Infraestructura – INI).
Source: Nacion.com