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Presidential Decree for Fuel
Saving Measures by Tomorrow
The price of a barrel of crude
oil passed the us$60 mark
yesterday and as promised the
government will be signing and
emergency decree to force Costa
Ricans to save fuel.
The price for crude closed at
us$60.54 yesterday. Today the
Consejo de Gobierno will meet to
discuss the measures that will
be adopted that will become
effective in the coming days.
The first measures that will be
included in the decree is a
change to the hours of work for
government employees and the
restriction on the movement of
vehicles in the downtown area
during morning and afternoon
rush hours.
All public employees - save
state bank employees and several
other governmental agencies -
will begin work one hour
earlier, starting at 7am and
ending their day at 3pm. The
change could come into effect
within 15 days.
Expected also will be
restriction of movement of
vehicles during rush hour
depending on the last digit of
the license plate. The plan
would restrict travel between
7am - 8am and 4pm - 5 pm on
Mondays with vehicles with the
last digit of the license plate
ending in 1 or 2, 3 or 4 on
Tuesdays, 5 & 6 on Wednesdays 7
& 8 on Thursdays, and 9 & 0 on
Fridays.
The presidential decree could
have other recommendations to
further save on the use of
gasoline, like making changes to
school hours and incentives for
private business to adopting
energy saving practices, though
no details were made.
Officials say that these
measures could see a saving of
15% to 20% on the use of
gasoline and that the changes
may be made permanent.
Gasoline prices dropped several
weeks ago when the price of
crude on world markets also
dropped. With the rise in prices
this past week, the Refoinadora
Costarricense de Petroléo (Recope)
will be making a request to the
price regulator, Aresep, for an
increase.
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