Costa Rica comptroller contests China contract
March 31st, 2009 | by admin |The national Comptroller’s Office said that an agreement between China and Costa Rica to jointly build an oil refinery is not valid, local news reported Saturday.
The agreement, signed in October 2008, was for the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) to form a joint venture with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to build a refinery.
The one billion-plus dollar refinery was to be built in the town of Moin, on the Caribbean coast, and is designed to refine some 12,000 barrels of oil a day.
But the Comptroller’s Office — an independent bureau that monitors government actions to make sure they are within the law — on Friday said the contract could not proceed, the daily La Nacion reported.
The reason: the joint venture would violate the RECOPE’s legal monopoly on oil refining and distribution.
The project can proceed only if legislators changed the law, enacted in 1993, La Nacion reported.
Arias is in Mexico on an official visit, and government officials have not commented on the measure.
Costa Rica became the first country in central America to establish diplomatic ties with China in June 2007.
Beijing is paying for a 74 million dollar new national stadium in San Jose, and has bought 300 million dollars in Costa Rican bonds.
In January, China and Costa Rica began talks for a free trade agreement.
China has steadily won over former Taiwan allies over the years as its growing economic and diplomatic clout trumps Cold War alliances.
