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San José - Caldera Highway Gets
The Green Light
Maybe it will really happen -
this time - the
construction of the San José -
Caldera highway that will save
one hour between San José and
Puntarenas. Yesterday, the
Contraloría General de la
República (CGR) - Comptroller's
office - gave the green light.
The CGR authorized the contract
by the Autopistas del Sol group,
to construct the highway and to
be supervised by Concesiones
Viales (Covisa).
The cost of the highway will be
us$150 million dollars and
Autopistas del Sol will have a
concession for 25 years,
according to Rándall Quirós,
minister for the Ministerio de
Obras Públicas y Tránsporte (MOPT),
Construction is expected to
begin by the middle of next
year.
It now takes about 2 hours to
drive from San José to
Puntarenas, a little more when
the roads a bad. The new highway
will cut the driving time to one
hour at the legal speed limit.
The highway will pass start from
Cuidad Colón, west of Santa Ana,
and through Orotina to Puerto
Caldera on the Pacific coast and
end in Puntarenas.
Minister Quirós said that the
new highway will be constructed
better than the road
construction in the past, have
wider lanes, on/off ramps and
will permit speeds of up to
100KmH.
The highway has been in the
planning stage for almost 20
years with contractors backing
out of contracts without
starting any work. The bridges
that connect the highway were
built in the last three years.
Last November the Canadian-Argentinian
group (SNC Lavalin and José
Cartellone Construcciones
Civiles S. A.) decided to back
out of the project after running
into difficulties with Costa
Rican officials.
The Autopistas del Sol group is
made up of PI Promotora de
Infraestructura S.A., Itinere CR
Valle del Sol S.A.,
Infraestructuras SDC Costa Rica
S.A. and M&S Desarrollos
Internacionales S.A.
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