Government
Aims To Resolve Limón-Moín Port Concession by April
The Costa Rican government expects to make the final decision
regarding the future of the Limón-Moín port complex concession in
March or April this year, the general director of the ministerio de
Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT), maritime and ports division,
Héctor Arce, said
The government will base its decision on a report carried out by
Dutch consulting firm Royal Haskoning, which analyzed the best
options to operate the facilities.
"The study only covered the ports on the Caribbean coast, not on the
Pacific coast. The study will serve as the basis for the executive
decision regarding the concession process," Arce said.
"Two options are currently being analyzed. Privatizing the port
complex - which entails turning Limón city into a port town - or
building a new facility right next to Moín," he added.
Arce also said that, in the event a new facility is built, the study
specifies it should be a large container port. If this is the case,
the new port would compete with Limón-Moín.
"A special government committee is currently analyzing the matter
with [Atlantic port authority] Japdeva. This includes the resolution
of pending labor issues," Arce said, referring to negotiations
between Limón-Moín union Sintrajab and Japdeva.
The government originally proposed that the complex, located in
Limón province, be offered in concession to a single private
developer.
However, Sintrajab rejected the proposal, arguing that the
privatization implied firing 6,000 of the 7,000 workers employed at
the facility.
On October 31 last year, the union suggested that the facility
either be turned into a tourist complex or that the government pay
the entity US$700mn in compensation to allow the privatization
process to be carried out.
Later, on November 3, the government responded by calling the
request "absurd" and offered Sintrajab US$80mn. That same day, the
union sent the government a letter rejecting the offer and demanding
pending labor compensation owed to the workers.
Costa Rican President Óscar Arias plans for the port complex to be
operating under the new model before his term ends in 2010.
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