Archive for August 5th, 2008
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Drivers heading to Costa Rica’s northwest Guanacaste province hit a roadblock this weekend that could persist through tomorrow. Road authorities closed a bridge on the Inter-American Highway North Saturday after it cracked, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).
The bridge crosses the Guacimal River at Kilometer 145, between Puntarenas and Guanacaste.
MOPT spokesman Omar Segura said the transport authorities today will offer more information on the closure and alternate routes.
Possible alternatives include the Paquera and Playa Naranjo ferries across the Gulf of Nicoya; up toward Tilarán, Guanacaste, through San Ramón and around Lake Arenal; or the route to Upala, a town near the northern border in the Alajuela province, to connect to La Cruz, Guanacaste.
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
The U.S. mortgage crisis has hit Costa Rica’s once booming vacation home market, with sales plummeting as Americans who dream of buying a tropical getaway struggle to find financing.
U.S. retirees and vacationers often pay for beach homes along Costa Rica’s jungle-fringed beaches by taking out mortgages on their homes in the United States, but trouble in the banking sector has made that more difficult, real estate agents say.
Prices for some vacation houses and condominiums in the Central American country have dropped as much as 40 per cent from their peak a few years ago and sales have slumped at least 30 per cent over the past six months, they say. (more…)
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
The United Concerned Citizens & Residents (UCCR), the Borthers (Villalobos) investors group, has sent what may be one of the last emails to its membership as the Supreme Court completed its final opinion on the case against Osvaldo Villalobos, not presenting any changes from the court opinion released on June 3.
The UCCR says the document is full of detail, lengthy and contains no surprises and defense attorney plan to submit a request to the trial court asking for a clarification on how the accusation of fraud was interpreted in arriving at a conviction.
Osvaldo Villalobos was tried and sentenced to 19 years in prison, a sentence that was ratified on June 3 by Sala Tercera de la Corte . His brother, Enrique Villalobos is at large and his whereabouts unknown, same as the alleged hundreds of millions of dollars of investor money. (more…)
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
The Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute (AyA), with financial collaboration and technical consulting from tourism and real estate development firm Peninsula Papagayo, will soon make it possible for the residents of the town of Monte Galan in the canton of Carrillo, Guanacaste, to have drinking water, as it has started working on a new aqueduct project there.
“The project’s design is done, the pipes are in the community, same as the machinery, showing the commitment of AyA with the people of Monte Galan,” said Ricardo Sancho Chavarria, executive director of AyA. “We will begin installing the piping to create an interconnection line, and through a pumping system we will bring running water to the community.”
Work on the project began last week with placing of the aqueduct’s initial pipe. Investment in the project totals approximately 100 million colones (little less than $200,000).
Peninsula Papagayo will foot half the project’s bill through its “Growing Together” program. (more…)
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