Archive for September 15th, 2009
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
The nation’s cell phone system is a mess, and the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is having trouble keeping up with the consumer demand.
The phone company unified the two cell phone systems Saturday, but by Monday some cell phones simply were not working. Frustrated phone company techs at the designed call-in line have taken to blaming the user for faulty telephones.
Some users, perhaps 10 percent of the cell phone population with GSM lines cold not get a dial tone and could not receive incoming calls.
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
In a letter to Fernando Herrero, the regulador general, the head of the Defensor Adjunto de los Habitantes, Daniel Soley, is asking that the Institution Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) should be ordered to compensate customers the amount equal to the 7% reduction that was stalled for 10 days.
The Autoridad Reguladora de Servicsion Público (Aresep) headed by Herrero approved a 7.2% reduction in a electrical rates that was to have taken effect on September 1.
However, an ICE appeal to the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo, stalled the start of the rate reduction and it wasn’t until Thursday, September 10, that the rate reduction took effect, after Grace Loaiza Sánchez rejected the ICE motion the day earlier.
The Aresep decision was made on August 20 (RRG-10018-2009).
Soley feels adamant that the delay was to the detriment of customers to the tune of ¢1.15 billion colones from all areas of the country.
The Defensor added that judge Loaiza’s decision called for a retroactive action.
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
The 54 US bound migrants picked up off the coast of Limón are being held at the immigration holding centre in Hatillo awaiting deportation. The group from Africa, Nepal and other African countries were detained after their boat arrived on the country’s Caribbean coast, officials said on Sunday.
Costa Rican authorities are treating some the migrants for dehydration following their voyage at sea, while three Colombians suspected of being smugglers and traveling with the group are in police custody.
One migrant asked a Costa Rican policeman upon arrival: “How close is this country to the United States?”
Immigration director Mario Zamora said yesterday’s 7 women and 47 men would join 41 other migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Guinea detained in June and July on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.
A Costa Rican court has ordered three Colombians jailed for up to a year pending an investigation into charges they smuggled 54 U.S.-bound migrants from Africa and Nepal. Prosecutors can also seek extensions.
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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
A picture is worth a thousand words. The photo was taken just a couple of days ago of a very tiny portion of the newly-paved 44 km (27 mile) stretch of the Costa Rica’s coastal highway (Costañera Sur) leading south from Quepos to Dominical.
It’s been a long time coming, but at last this major public works project is not only well underway, but about 75% completed.
Some of the major and minor bridges along the route aren’t finished yet, nor is some of the paving closer to Dominical, but the entire 44 km of highway should be all paved by the beginning of 2010 at the latest.
If you plan on driving farther south, it is best to take the inland road, traffic is terrible. A friend says there can be hours of delay crossing bridges. And detours are everywhere. And with the rainy season, it makes matters worse.
This is tremendous news for those that live down south of Dominical (the section of the Costañera Sur from Dominical to Palmar Norte that that runs in front of Lomas was paved years ago).
Not only will the coastal highway be paved all the way, making the entire trip to the area of Costa Rica’s Cororado (the new hot spot) pleasant journey, but about an hour will be cut off the driving time from San José. And once the San José-Orotina segment is completed, it should take well under four hours to drive from San José to places like Lomas Coronado – not only a far more scenic trip, but also less time than it does to drive to Tamarindo, Flamingo, Playa Hermosa or Papagayo in the North.
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