Three projects that governments have postponed for years have returned to the scene in recent months at the initiative of private companies.
The companies dusted off a chapter of the concessions law that allows them to offer the authorities to carry out the long-past investment studies of high-impact projects for the country so that they can be built or tendered, again.
The works are the extension of Ruta 32 (San Jose – Limon), between the restaurant Doña Lela and Rio Sucio, the extension of the Florencio del Castillo highway (San Jose – Cartago), between Plaza Víquez and the center of Cartago and the construction of a cruise terminal and marina in the Caribbean.
The delays and postponement of these projects has made their solutions impossible due to high saturation and road risk and the need to generate new businesses that produce wealth and employment.
In addition, the costs of the works has increased to more than US$1.35 billion; monies that must be obtained by the companies that are awarded the works, with the investment paid back through toll or user fees.
At the forefront of these projects are the Costa Rican companies H. Solis and Constructora Meco and the Tico-Mexico group, Green Gate Legacy.
Article 20 of the Ley de Concesiones (Concessions Law) allows a company to propose a project and carry out pre-investment studies to take it out to competition, but nothing guarantees that it will end up carrying out the work, since the same legislation prevents assigning the construction directly. A concession tender has to be carried out.
Source: La Republica
