Farmers May Paralyze New San Carlos Road Construction
The anxiously awaited road that would make travel to San Carlos, La Fortuna, easier is finding another stumbling block: a group of farmers of the area say they are not happy with the government's offer for their land.

The government needs to expropriate a number of farms to pave way for the road construction. A group of about 60 owners of land in the area of Volio, Alto Villegas and Rio Espino, there has been chaos and disorder within the Departamento de Avalúos del Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) to value their lands.

The area of expropriation is from Sifón to La Abundancia de Cuidad Quesada, all in the province of Alajuela.

The land owners say that the parameters used to value the land is far from reality and are being offered between ¢200 abd ¢500 colones for a square metre of land, basically, the price of a beer. The farmers say that the MOPT is not taking into account that some of the farms are productive.

Those affected met yesterday in Villegas de San Ramón, and decided to form the committee known as Comité de Lucha y Defensa to unite in a fight against the government and impeded the construction of the road to San Carlos if necessary.

"We are to understand that for the construction of this road, the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad says that the Contraloría General de la República has been granted, which is way off reality", said Gerardo Moncada, one of the affected.

"How is it possible that a farm in the name of my wife shows up in the evaluation in my name and my land in the name of my wife for three thousand square metres of land for only ¢900.000 colones. These people have the nerve and have shown total incompetence and inefficiency in valuating our properties", said Luis Fernandao Esquivel.

The farmers added that in some cases the government has paid ¢7.000 colones per square metre for land that is totally useless. They also say that some of the lands that being valued cheaply by the government have been valued up to ¢18.000 colones per square metre by local banks.

One of the actions available to the group is to make a complaint to the Tribunales de Justicia - Courts - for fair payment for their lands. However, they warn that if a reasonable solution is not reached, they will paralyze the construction of the road, which is to be build by the a Taiwanese company and paid for by the government of Taiwan.