ICE Manager Calls it Quits!
In what is being
called a surprise that was being
expected, Alvaro Retana, the
manager at the centre of the
storm surrounding the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) contract with the Ericsson
company, has resigned his post.
Retana assures that his resignation is not related to the accusation
of wrongdoing when it was discovered that Retana had met secretly
with the general manager of Ericsson Costa Rica in Prague, Czech
Republic, while ICE was considering awarding Ericsson the contract
for 600.000 cellular GSM lines.
Retana, along with two ICE directors, José Antonio Lobo and Hernando
Pantigoso, received strong criticism over the Prauge trip. The
latter were relieved of their duties last month, while Retana,
remained at his post, though it had been reported that he had not
been seen at ICE for several months.
Retana told reporters that he paid for his own trip and received
nothing in exchange. He added that his resignation is not an
admission of guilt or failure to maintain moral standards or legal
ethics expected of a public functionary.
Retana blames commercial competition for his troubles, adding that
his reputation has been injured and he is paying the price.
Motorola and Alcatel, among others, were in competition for the
contract, however it was awarded to Ericsson.
Alcatel installed the current GSM service, which ICE had been very
displeased with the performance on Alcatel' s part in delivering the
network and continued complaints of poor coverage. Motorola has been
claiming foul play since the contract was awarded to Ericsson.
A resolution by the Contraloría General de la República
- Comptroller's office - two weeks ago, said that there are 28 errors in the contract
between the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and
Ericsson company.
The contract is worth $130 Million Dollars and called for the
installation of the new GSM service that included 600.000 cellular lines,
towers and switches, that were to be installed by December of
this year and marketed by ICE not later than March of 2005.
Retans is a 18 year veteran of ICE. He said he will now be knocking
on doors at the telecommunications companies to find new employment.
And although Retana is said to be leaving his post in an air of
tranquility, the Ministerio Público will probably investigate the
case.
MOPT Computer
System Down
Thinking of getting your Costa Rican driver's license
today? or having to renew one? Well, it won't happen, not today and
maybe not for the rest of this week.
The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) informed
yesterday that their computers are down and it is not known exactly
when their system will be back online and thus has suspended all
services for new driver's licenses and renewals.
According to a press release by the MOPT, the system suffered a
complete failure to to the electrical storm that was experienced on
Monday in the downtown area, that burned out a modem that connects
the main offices in San José with regional centres in Limon,
Puntarenas, San Carlos and Liberia.
The press release indicated that new equipment valued at ¢750.000
colones had to be purchased, installed and tested before the system
can be made active again.
The cost of a driver's license for the first time is ¢4.000 colones
for two years, while a renewals is ¢10.000 colones for up to 5 years
and a duplicate costs ¢5.000. A medical certificate is required (one
can be obtained at a small cost at any of the many medical offices
surrounding the licensing department) and a certificate of the
written driver's exam and road test.
Foreigners with a driver's license from their "home" country need
only to present their foreign license, their passport that is within
the tourist visa period (90 days for North Americans and Europeans;
30 days for most other countries), along with the medical
certificate to obtain their Costa Rican driver's license.
Some 1.500 people visit the licensing offices of the MOPT between
the hours of 7:30am and 4pm from Monday to Friday and long lines are
expected once the system is again online.
Costa Rica
Will Pay Chileans
President Abel Pacheco said yesterday that Costa Rica
will indemnify the families of the slain Chilean diplomats if the -
Tribunales de Justicia - courts rule such.
Pacheco said, that if the families of Roberto Nieto, Cristián Yussef
and Rocío Sariego, functionaries at the Chilean Embassy in San José
murdered by a member of the Fuerza Publica last week, present formal
charges against the government, they will be paid if so ordered by
the courts.
Pacheco commented, that Chile and Costa Rica and democratic
republics and the Tribunals are the ones to decide these matters.
General
Growth Properties Shops in Costa Rica
General Growth Properties Inc. has invested in two joint ventures in
Costa Rica and Brazil, becoming the latest retail Real Estate
Investment Trust (REIT) to branch out beyond U.S. borders.
The venture in Costa Rica it will join in the construction and
management of a new 500,000-square-foot mall. To start, the firm
will invest $17 million, but the ventures ultimately call for $55
million in capital.
"We didn't feel compelled to do this, but it is a logical extension
of our platform," said Bernie Freibaum, General Growth's CFO.
"Retailing is more and more becoming an international business.
We've got longstanding relationships with U.S.-based retailers that
are going global. To that extent, this makes a lot of sense."
General Growth is working working with the Venezuelan company
Grupo Sambil and Genesis Fund of Costa Rica to form GSG de Costa
Rica SRL to develop, own and manage the $70 million,
500,000-square-foot Sambil Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Construction has not yet begun on the new mall.
General Growth joins competitors like Simon Property Group and Mills
Corp. in pursuing foreign investment. But unlike those firms, which
looked to more stable markets in Europe--Italy and Spain among them
- General Growth has chosen to make a play on some riskier targets.
In Brazil will give it interests in two regional malls and a
property management firm, teaming with Nacional Iguatemi Group to
form GGP/NIG Brazil.
General Growth Properties is the second largest regional mall REIT
and is a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") and
is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and its predecessor
companies have been in the shopping center business for fifty years.
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, GGP has more than 4,000
employees in the U.S.
Forest Bees Can Boost Coffee Crops
Conserving tropical forests could increase profits for coffee
farmers in developing countries, according to research to be
published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. The study shows that the closer coffee bushes are planted
to patches of forest, the more and better quality beans they produce
because of greater pollination by wild bees.
The researchers, from the World Wide Fund for Nature, Stanford
University and the University of Kansas, studied a Costa Rican
coffee farm bordered by patches of intact forest. They selected five
coffee plants at increasing distances from the forest patches. On
each plant, two branches were pollinated by hand, and two were left
to be pollinated naturally.
By comparing yields from each branch, the scientists were able to
measure the contribution of wild insect pollinators, and how this
varied with distance from the forest. They found that coffee plants
within one kilometre of a forest patch had yields that were 20 per
cent higher than plants further away. The plants close to the forest
also had 27 per cent fewer 'peabodies', or misshapen seeds.
The explanation, suggest the scientists, is that the forest patches
provide nesting sites for bees, which pollinate the coffee plants
while foraging for nectar.
According to the researchers' calculations, the extra pollination
that bees provide increased the farm's income by about US$60,000 in
the 2002-2003 coffee season.
This corresponds to seven per cent of the farm's total income for
that year.
The researchers also point out that the income provided by insect
pollination is nearly ten times what farmers would be paid to
maintain the same area of forest under Costa Rica's Environmental
Service Payments (ESP) Project, a scheme that provides financial
incentives for conservation.
"The ESP program in Costa Rica is a great idea, and should be
considered elsewhere," says Taylor Ricketts of the World Wide Fund
for Nature, who led the study. "Based on our results, though, it
vastly underestimates the value of the services that conserved
forest provides. Payments ideally should reflect this real value, as
that is the 'efficient' economic result, but payments at almost any
level are certainly a start."
Ricketts believes the research findings are potentially applicable
in most places coffee is grown. But he says that different varieties
of Coffee Arabica — the coffee grown in Costa Rica — grown worldwide
may differ in their response to pollinators.
"The other coffee species, C. Robusta, has a very different
pollination ecology," says Ricketts. "But studies on both species on
several continents have consistently shown that bee activity
declines with distance from native habitats."
The researchers' next steps will be to develop an outreach strategy
based on their results, making recommendations to governments and
coffee cooperatives in Costa Rica and elsewhere, Ricketts told
SciDev.Net.
"I would also like to see whether a diverse, natural shade canopy
can provide native pollinators right in the farms themselves," says
Ricketts. "This would help farmers be in more direct control of the
pollination services on their farms."
US
Airways to Add Flight Costa Rica
US Airways said it plans to add non-stop Saturday flights
to Liberia, Costa Rica, beginning 12 Feb 2005, pending government
approval.
The flight will be operated on an Airbus 319 jet seating 120
passengers.
Additionally, on Dec. 11, US Airways will add a second Saturday
round-trip flight between Charlotte and St. Thomas, using a 193-seat
Boeing 757 jet.
US Airways currently serves the Juan Santamaria International
airport in San José with a daily flight from Charlotte, N.C.
Liberia is a new destination for US Airways, joining American, Delta
and Continental providing direct service from the U.S. to Costa
Rica's Northwest Pacific beach areas>
The Liberia airport eliminates the 5 hour drive or 1 hour shuttle
flight from San José for travelers to the Guanacaste region.
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