Government
Allocates $15 Million to Repair Bridges
The Costa Rica government announced on
Saturday that it is allocating us$15 million
for the reparation of 10 bridges, two days
after a tragedy that took five lives and
sparked a barrage of criticism against the
ministra de Obras Pública y Transportes,
Karla González.
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias,
personally visited the site of Thursday's
tragedy, reiterating his support of González,
his transport minister during his term.
The money will come from a us$65 million
World Bank loan approved this year for
dealing with emergencies and which could be
available to the ministerio de Obras Pública
y Transportes (MOPT) in the coming weeks.
The country’s two leading Spanish language
newspapers, La Nación and Diario
Extra,strong criticism of Gonzalez, seconded
by members of the opposition parties who
demanded her resignation due to the bad
state of the bridge that collapsed last
Thursday as a bus went over it.
The bus fell from the bridge, which dates
back to the 1920s, into the Tárcoles river
in Turrubares, west of San Jose,
leaving five dead and dozens injured.
Some of the survivors told reporters that
they heard a loud noise when the cables
holding up the bridge broke and the next
thing they knew the vehicle was in the
water.
In its editorial Saturday, La Nación said
that the bridge “collapsed under the weight,
not of a bus, but of the fecklessness of a
government incapable of setting priorities
and taking care of even the most elemental
security requirements.”
La Republica, also in its Saturday
editorial, said that “this is a case in
which a resignation should be considered”
since “it isn’t possible to just turn the
page and go on as before, when there are
five people dead who would still be here if
priority had been given to prevention,
prudence, discipline and a heightened sense
of responsibility.”
The $15 million announced by the government
will go mainly to improving those 10
structures that is "critical" state of
repair.
The resident of Turrubares, as well as the
municipal council had asked on several
occasions the MOPT to fix the suspension
bridge, requests that went unanswered.
Thursday's tragedy could have been avoided
if it were not for the bureaucracy of
the Costa Rican government, as the materials
and plans to replace the Turrubares bridge
were stalled for the last seven years.
Steel to be used specifically for the
replacement work are in Tibás MOPT work yard
rusting away.
Ministra Gonzalez has defended herself,
saying that approaching the bridge there is
a sign banning heavy vehicles and apparently
the structure was damaged the day before it
fell by a truck that crashed into part of
the bridge.
The ministra added that most of the bridges
in the country are in a poor state due to a
lack of maintenance and abandonment for more
than 40 years and it will take some years to
come to begin to see an improvement.
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The ministra de Obras Públicas y Transportes, Karla González.
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