An important road project in Costa Rica faces delays – image courtesy of © Indos82, Dreamstime.com
Work on Costa Rica’s Route 32 road project is facing challenges. One problem for the Ministry of Public Works and Transports (MOPT) is that there is insufficient funding available to pay for all the and needed for the alignment at present.
The planned section of the road between Rio Frio and Limon will require some 520 separate deals for land with the current owners. However, only 170 of the necessary transactions have so far been carried out and the remainder will need to be completed within 12 months for the project to stay on schedule.
In addition Costa Rica’s state-owned water and sanitation company, Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), is carrying out utilities works along another section of the road close to Santa Rosa. The widening work for Route 32 cannot be completed until the pipeline installation is complete and this is also expected to delay road construction.
The 107km road project is costing US$465 million and is being handled by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).
