Archive for July 10th, 2008
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
The Ministro de Vivienda (Housing minister), Fernando Zumbado, has left his post temporarily while investigators dig into allegations of misuse of us$1.4 million dollars in funds donated the Government of Taiwan placed in a fideicomiso (trust fund), which was to be used to eradicate the “precarios” (slums) in Pavas.
In a letter to Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, Zumbado, known as the minister to the poor, said it is best he step aside while the investigations into the allegations are ongoing and can the president can expect him to maintain his distance. (more…)
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
In a last minute announcement, the Ministra de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), Karla González., announced that the vehicular restrictions of San José will be only for 13 hours and the 24 hours the MOPT had promised.
The hours of restriction will be between 6am and 7pm beginning this morning (Thursday) with license plates ending in 7 & 8.
The MOPT minister said that the decision to shorten the restricted hours was to give consideration for the safety of those who travel to and from work at night or in the small hours of the morning when public transportation is limited.
In addition, González said that fuel consumption is lower at night and not requiring the ban.
The minister denied succumbing to pressure from business organizations, rather that the decision to shorten the hours was based on comments received by hundreds of Costa Ricans who did not share her point of view.
Commercial vehicles, however, are not affected by the all day restrictions and will have to abide the restrictions only during morning and after hours (6am to 8:30am and 4:30pm and 7pm) using the same last digit system used for all other vehicles, that is 1 & 2 on Mondays, 3 & 4 on Tuesdays, 5 & 6 on Wednesdays, 7 & 8 on Thursdays and 9 & 0 on Fridays.
Commerical vehicles have the additional restriction of not being able to circulate during those hours on the General Cañas, Florencio del Castillo, Braulio Carrillo and Fernando Prospero highways that lead in and out of San José.
Excluded from the restrictions are public transport vehicles like buses and taxis, motorcycles and emergency vehicles, like ambulance, police and fire.
The area of restriction will continue to be the same as defined for the last several weeks, mainly the Circunvalación, all the rotondas and La Uruca to Calle Blancos.
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
Caracas, Jul 9 (Prensa Latina) Venezuela Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced on Wednesday that Costa Rica will join regional Petrocaribe alliance as an observer.
An official Costa Rican delegation will travel to Venezuela to attend the special Petrocaribe summit and explore possibilities to join the initiative, that seeks energy security for its members, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry said.
Maduro confirmed to Venezolana de Television the holding of the meeting over the weekend in Maracaibo, Zulia, about 310 miles from Caracas, expected to be attended by about 17 government delegations. (more…)
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
The first major disruption of the nine-month-old Costa Rican-Panamanian free trade agreement came on July 6, when approximately 200 truck drivers from Panama, Costa Rica, and other Central American countries paralyzed cargo crossing from Paso Canoas, Panama to Cerro Punta, Costa Rica. The protest, sparked by exorbitant Costa Rican tariffs and taxes, draws attention to the inconsistencies within the current import/export fee system.
Costa Rica previously was charging vehicle operators for driving through the country, even though the fees violated a law passed in 2001. Manuel Mora, president of the National Association of Truck Drivers of Panamá (Canatraca) said that the country “wants U.S. $70 for hauling a load between Paso Canoas and San José and U.S. $140 for travel between Paso Canoas and Peñas Blancas” on the Nicaraguan border. The organization’s secretary, Rafael Araúz, called for international cargo traffic along the Inter-American highway to be digitally tracked in order to “to verify who leaves with and without a load, [giving] us the opportunity to check every single load, to make sure that it does not endanger the transporter,” a move which would increase transparency in the system. The protesting Costa Rican truck drivers also demand that San José remove taxes on diesel fuels and regulate the amount of non-tico truckers using Costa Rican fuel in order to lower prices. (more…)
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
Costa Rica’s main dairy product manufacturer, the Dos Pinos Cooperative, plans an aggressive expansion drive in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, local media report.
Dos Pinos intends to take advantage of high powder milk prices, which have peaked at around $5,000 per tonne mid-2007, up from $1,998 per tonne in January 2003. Although prices have fallen from their peak level, they have remained above the $4,500 mark.
Dos Pinos has already invested $12.5 million in Guatemala, where it currently sells 80,000 litres of Costa Rican milk a day. The group now plans to strike deals with local producers.
The cooperative recently acquired a 51% stake in a dairy plant owned by Cooprolac in Panama and aims to capture a 25% share of that country’s market by 2013. Dos Pinos’s investments in Panama are currently worth an estimated $2.5 million.
Finally, the Costa Rican company has earmarked between $5 and $6 million for a new factory in Nicaragua.
If Dos Pinos’s investment drive goes as planned, the cooperative should achieve the largest distribution network in Central America, with over 26,000 businesses.
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