Majority of Downtown
Electrical Posts Still
Standing
Two and a half years
after the start of the
underground electrical
cabling of 350 blocks of
downtown San José, old
cables and posts are
still in place, as the
Compañía Nacional de
Fuerza y Luz (CNFL) has
only removed 18% or 320
of the 1.760 posts.
The CNFL says that the
slow removal of all the
electrical posts and
cables is not entirely
its fault, as other
utilities required to
remove their cables have
not done so.
For example, the posts
are host to electrical
cabling by the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) -
parent of the CNFL,
internet cabling by
Radiográfica
Costarricense S. A. (Racsa)
and cabling by the
television cable
companies.
The CNFL says it cannot
say when all the posts
will be removed from the
city's sidewalks as it
all depends of the other
companies. Fructuoso
Garrido, director of
distribution for the
CNFL, said that when
they get a report that a
post has had all cables
removed, the CNFL
removes it at once.
The problem is not
simply removing the
cables, the utility
companies need to
develop an underground
infrastructure which
takes time to design and
purchase new materials
and equipment.
Garrido added that the
heavy congestion of the
downtown core also
impedes his work crews.
The idea of the
underground
electrification of San
José was in 1993 with
the objective of
removing all overhead
cables and electrical
posts to reduce
contamination and enable
the 'repopulation" of
the downtown core. |
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