Road to Caldera One Step
Closer to Completion
Construction on road to
Caldera is set to begin
in January as the the
last hurdle facing the
completion of the road
was overcome yesterday
with the green light
from the Contraloría
General de la República
(Comptroller's office).
The Contraloría approved
the latest amendments to
the contract that leaves
the road builder,
Autopistas de Sol, and
its financiers in
agreement. Almost.
The machines are
expected to start moving
by the middle of January
2008 if the contractor
and the financiers sign
their agreement, which
is expected to take
place sometime next
month.
One of the main hurdles
for the project that
received the green light
from the Contraloría was
more money for the
project, going from the
original amount of ¢182
million colones to ¢230
million colones for the
completion work.
The road, which has been
in the planning and
construction stage for
the last 30 years,
should take about 30
months to complete and
will cut the travel time
between San José to
Caldera, Puntarenas to
half hour instead of the
90 minutes it takes
today.
The completion of the
road will also mean
faster travel to and
from Playa Jacó and
Quepos/Manuel Antonio.
Currently, travel time
to Jacó is 1 hour 45
minutes and 3 hours 15
minutes to Quepos
through the mountains
west of Atenas on the
road called "el monte
aguacate". The new road
will cut almost an hour
from travel to Jacó and
Quepos.
The strecth of road
between Cuidad Colon,
west of Santa Ana, and
Orotina is the major
portion of the road that
needs to be completed.
Teh bridges, some of
which are already
deteriorating, were
built some years ago.
The new road will be a
toll road. once
completed, traffic will
be charged ¢1.000
colones to use the new
road.
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