Problem is a lack of leadership and skilled professionals. More specifically, failure of the political leadership. For years people complained or at least believed the bad infrastructure was due to a lack of funds. Now, they have all the money in the world and nothing can be done due to political infighting and collective national apathy.
The sewer project is a perfect example of not in my back yard. All the engineers want to build the plant near Escazu, because that, apparently is best natural path for the river of crap. As you can imagine the affluent folks in Escazu are having one of it. So as a result, the country does not get a sewer.
When a a million or so people flush the toilet in San Jose, it goes into the "storm drain", and eventually flows down the
Tárcoles river (most polluted in Central America). The mouth of the river is located about half way between Puntarenas and Jaco.
Right now, the four branches of government are working on a constitutional reform. One of the big items is social policy for land expropriation. Currently the cases can go on forever, and infrastructure project stays on hold indefinitely.
However, at the end of the day you must ask. What can you really say about a country that thinks prostitution is a solution for an entire social underclass of unwed mothers and high school drop outs?
Pura Vida Mae
This is just it, in my observations.