The repair to the “Platina” bridge will be delayed, informs the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi), due to a error in the bidding process.
The Conavi says it budgeted 5% more than the US$8 million authorized by the Contraloría General de República (CGR) – Comptroller’s office.
The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Pedro Castro, confirmed that CONAVI requires the approval of the CGR to spend the additional US$400.000 over the initial budget for road works.
According to Castro, the Platina contract cannot be awarded until the Comptroller’s office resolves the matter, which is expected by the end of this week.
The repair work of the Platina is schedule to start in July. The budgeting error may delay that start.
Three competing companies are bidding on the work: Constructora Hernán Solís is bidding ¢5.08 billion colones, Codocsa S.A is at ¢4.39 billion and Consorcio Meco-Puente Prefa at ¢6.32 billion.
The repair work is expected to take ten months to complete, nine of which will be working under the bridge deck, and one month to replace the slab.
The ministry of Transport expects the work of the last month will affect traffic.
We’ve lost count which repair attempt this is. It has been almost four years, it was on August 2009, when a gap between the spans was noticed.
Every repair attempt so far has failed.
