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Does this mean it may get done in the next year ot two


From "AM Costa Rica"

Caldera contractor fined
$50,000 per day for delay

By José Pablo Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The public works ministry said Tuesday that the contractor for the San José-Caldera highway is being fined $50,000 a day because work has not started.

The contract has been tied up at the Contraloría de la República.

The Autopistas del Sol S.A. obtained a concession on the highway. The company will complete the work, which basically amounts to grading and blacktopping. Bridges have been installed for at least six years.

The company was supposed to start the job April 1, and officials announced that date in February. However, the company presented an amendment to the contract that would have allowed the Central American Bank of Economic Integration to take the company stock as security for a loan.

After the Contraloría rejected the plan, a new document was drafted that is being studied by officials now. Meanwhile, the meter is running on the company, which plans to invest $176 million.

Luis Diego Vargas, vice minister of Conseciones de Obras Públicas y Puertos, said Tuesday he expected the work to start within two months if the Contraloría accepts the second document.

Autopistas del Sol will have 23 years to earn back its investment by means of tolls from motorists. The route is expected to cut the travel time from San José to the coast in half. Seven toll plazas are planned.

Any fines the company pays probably will be lumped into its expenses so that the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos will consider these expenditures when setting the amount of tolls. In other words, it will be the motoring public that will pay the fines in the long run.

The concession also includes work on the highway that runs along the south side of Parque La Sabana and additional work on the highway to Ciudad Colón. From there, three lanes will be constructed to Orotina and then the road to Caldera will be improved.

The Consejo Nacional de Concesiones is involved in the agreement as is the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transporte. Autopista is a creation of two Spanish firms, a Costa Rican company and a Portuguese entity. The original contract was signed in March 2006.

Further information of this project and nice maps can be found here: http://gis2.esri.com/library/userconf/latinproc00/costa_rica/desarrollo_reg/desarrollo.html

From A.M. Costa Rica:

OK.....now I have 2 questions. Is that sugar on those buns ? Also, is there a chance that the new Red China relations will cause the CR Chinese food to taste like real Chinese food; or will it continue to taste like Tico food?

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"