San José Airport
Completion Continues
Grounded
The Juan Santamaría (San
José) international
airport sits half
finished as the
government and the
airport manager, Alterra
Partners, continue a
dispute over
construction costs and
financing.
Yesterday, the ministra
de Obras Públicas y
Transportes, Karla
González, gave Alterra
three months to present
a new plan for the
completion of the
airport after Alterra's
financing fell through.
"In good faith we are
going to look at two
things: that Alterra's
proposal is serious and
definitive and that the
construction completion
of the airport will be
as we have been
negotiating", said
González in a press
conference.
The announcement by the
government came after
the decision of the
Banco Centroamericano de
Integración Económica (BCIE)
that it would not
finance the completion
work at the airport.
The bank said it will
distance itself from the
project after months of
negotiations with
Alterra. The bank says
that Alterra is us$90
million dollars in debt
over the construction
and wants no part of it.
Alterra investors are
expected to be in Costa
Rica to offer the
government a plan or in
search of an alternative
to complete the airport.
Important is that all of
this bantering between
Alterra and the
government will have no
effect on users of the
airport - travellers
coming and going from
the Santamaría, as the
problem has never been
one of operation, but
rather construction,
according to Monica
Angel, representing
Alterra.
"What we have in front
of us is a paralyzed
project due to the lack
of financing and of
course Alterra's
incompletion", said
Viviana Martín,
president of the Consejo
Técnico de Aviación
Civil (CETAC) - civil
aviation - and vice
minister of Transportes.
The government opted to
give Alterra three
months to find a
solution to the problem
rather than taking over
the project itself as it
had threatened in the
past and reiterated by
Martín again yesterday.
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