San José – Caldera To Be Inaugurated Today Amid Protests and Roadblocks
January 27th, 2010 | by admin |Today, the inauguration of the San José – Caldera takes place, when after almost 40 years of planning and delays, Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, makes the 77 kilometre road official.
However, a group of residents of Santa Ana and Cuidad Colon are not very happy about all of this and this morning took to blocking the section of the road that runs through their community, saying the road is unsafe and never considered the concerns of the area residents.
The road that was first promised in 1978 was to have cost us$158 million dollars in 2001 when the Rodriguez administration announced its intention to complete the road. The good intentions followed delays and was put on the back burner by the Pacheco administration that followed, only to revived by the current administration.
Karla Gonzalez, the former ministra of the MOPT, said that the delays were due to the problems in the expropriation of some 100 lots that run across the highway and the ramps.
The total cost of the completed highway is $230 million dollars.
Today’s inauguration marks the completion of dream of decades. But also a headache for some living near the highway.
The Santa Ana/Cuidad Colon residents are upset mainly at the installation of the toll booths leading to and from those communities from the highway. For the time being, although the toll booths are built, the charge of tolls has been suspended while the government attempts a resolution between the residents and the road concessionaire, Autopistas del Sol.
The residents, early this morning erected a blockade on the section of the highway immediately west of the toll booths, forcing the presence of the Fuerza Pública (police) and anti-riot squad to keep the calm and clear the road.
“This road has no face, just like the lack of face of the president”, said one resident for the television cameras.
The residents say that the road is unsafe, it lacks proper signage, safety barriers, markings, etc, for it to be opened. Some argue that the early opening, the highway was to have opened at the end of March, is a political ploy by the Arias administration to get Laura Chinchilla elected in less than two weeks, when Costa Ricans vote for a new president.
In addition, the bank accounts of the Autopistas del Sol were frozen on Tuesday by a court hearing a charge by the federation of architects and engineers, who claim that the concessionaire owes them millions in fees, which Autopistas del Sol denies.
Environmentalists argue that the construction of the new highway also damaged the natural eco systems of the area and continues to contaminate the local rivers.
Despite the protests, accusations and legal battles, the completion of the highway will mean a big boost for toursism in the Pacific coast, as travel time from San José’s Juan Santamaría International airport to destinations in Guanacaste (North Pacific), Puntarenas, Jacó and Quepos (Central Pacific) and the southern zone (South Pacific) will be cut by at least 45 minutes or more.
For instance, it took between 90 and 120 minutes yesterday to travel to Caldera, Puntarenas and Jacó. It will take today only 52 minutes. Quepos is less than two hours away, instead of three. Liberia is less than 2.5 hours instead of 3.5. And so are Tamarindo, Flamingo, Coco, Hermosa and Papagayo almost an hour less away that yesterday.
Whatever the reason for the protests, one thing is for sure, Arias is delivering on a dream or a headache, depending on which side of the road you are on, decades in the making.
