Government To Fine
Alterra For Airport
Construction Delays
The Consejo Técnico de
Aviación Civil (CTAC) -
civil aviation -
announced yesterday that
it will fine Alterra
Partners, the managers
of the Juan Santamaría
(San José) International
airport, us$10 million
dollars for the delays
in completing the
airport terminal.
The fine is for work not
completed on time, like
the new control tower.
CTAC will also sanction
Alterra for paralyzing
the completion of the
airport terminal between
March 2003 and December
2005 - 33 months.
The terminal is now only
half complete, work
resuming and stopping
for the past two years.
Currently work on the
terminal is at a halt.
Karla González, ministra
de Transportes, said
from Paris, France, that
fines may exceed the
us$10 million dollars
because the Órgano
Fiscalizador del
Contrato de Gestión
Interesada (OFGI) is
still calculating the
exact amount of the
fine.
The vice-minister of
Transportes, Viviana
Martín, who is also in
France with González,
attending a forum on
road safety sponsored by
the World Bank, added
that Alterra will be
notified in the coming
weeks of the exact
amount of the fine and
how it will be applied.
The notice, said Martín,
will be made the same
day the "addendum" to
the construction
contract will be sent to
the Contraloría General
de la República
(Comptroller's office),
which is part of the
adjustment to the
financing of the
construction work and
the reason for the
current halt in
construction, as the
financiers wanted a
fixed amount of the fine
rather than leave it
floating.
The "addendum" also
proposes to extend the
Alterra airport
management contract from
20 to 25 years.
Mónica Nágel, executive
director of Alterra,
said yesterday that she
was not aware of the
amount of the fine that
the government will
impose, only saying that
the CTAC has the power
to impose fines. |
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