Costa Rica unveils US$4.6bn road infrastructure plan

Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado and members of his cabinet unveiled Thursday a US$4.6bn road infrastructure plan involving new and long-delayed projects.

The works will be carried out under the government's so-called comprehensive action plan for economic reactivation, which covers a variety of sectors and was presented to the public throughout the week.

The road investments will be financed by already awarded loans and through public-private partnerships, economic coordination minister Edna Camacho said at a press conference.

In addition, authorities announced 5bn colones (US$8.5m) for the public works concessions system. Some of these funds, which are in the 2019 budget and were reallocated from other ministries, will go to strengthen the national concessions council (CNC).

The government is also set to sign a US$150mn loan with IDB, already approved by the bank's board, to finance over 100 road projects in 82 cantons, according to a release.

PROJECTS

The government will submit a bill to congress to reallocate US$350mn from an IDB loan to upgrade the San José-San Ramón, San José-Cartago and San José-Limón highways, which are set to receive US$50mn each. The remaining US$200mn will fund construction of a new road between the capital and San Carlos, a project launched over a decade ago that remains incomplete.

Other works under the plan include completion of the Circunvalación Norte beltway (US$204mn), and construction of underpasses at the La Bandera and Guadalupe roundabouts (US$21.9mn each), all in San José.

Another US$22.4mn will fund the widening of a section of the Virilla bridge, a project that was expected to begin in 2016 but never got going, while some US$8.5mn will be used to build a new bridge on the Radial Santa Ana beltway.

The funds for these five projects will come from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei).

Another US$8.5mn from the national roads council (Conavi) will be used to complete the widening of a section of the Radial Santa Ana.

Modernizing the public bus system in the San José metropolitan area is also included in the investment plan.

PPPs

As for PPP projects, some US$450mn of private sector funding will be invested in upgrading and widening national route 27, which runs from San José to Caldera. The 25-year concession contract for the highway is held by private operator Autopistas del Sol.

In addition, some US$650mn of a trust fund managed by state bank BCR will be provided to widen and repair the San José-San Ramón highway.

Some US$400mn in private investment, meanwhile, will be used for the San José-Cartago highway, and another US$500mn of private funds for maintenance of the San José-Río Frio highway. For this road, the government will allocate some US$3.5mn from an IDB loan to carry out feasibility studies into widening it.

Some US$450mn in IDB financing will also be used to widen and upgrade the Interamericana Norte highway (US$337mn), widening the La Angostura highway in Puntarenas province (US$8.9mn) and paving a road connecting Paquera and Playa Naranjo (US$33.1mn), also in Puntarenas province.

In photo: Costa Rican authorities attend an event in capital San José on Thursday to present the strategy.