Why Costa Rica plans to restart troubled highway project in 2023

The Costa Rican government plans to restart the project to widen and upgrade the General Cañas and Bernardo Soto highways, known as the San José-San Ramón corridor, in 2023. 

State-owned bank BCR was meant to build and manage the project, and collect the tolls for 30 years through the Fideicomiso Ruta 1 trust and the project’s execution unit.

Last week, the public works and transport ministry (MOPT) said it was preparing severance payment for the bank as it would terminate the trust next year, in order to give the project a fresh start with a new financial structure. 

MOPT said the reasons for removing BCR from the main parts of the project were delays, the high cost of the execution unit, and the fact that the bank had not been able to obtain the necessary funds.

“Every month we pay the bank US$193,000. The bank has not obtained the financial resources for these works, and the government’s contributions have surpassed US$50mn. This situation will not work…we must move forward with a highway design that allows construction to progress,” local news outlet Semanario Universitario reported the head of MOPT, Luis Amador, as saying.

The responsibility of BCR will be limited to operating the tolls system, said Amador.

The decision to limit the bank’s role was criticized by lawmaker Monserrat Ruiz, saying that “starting from scratch” could lead to year-long delays. 

The project ran into problems in August when the comptroller general’s office (CGR) analyzed the work of the trust and found several irregularities in terms of execution. 

Despite lacking some of the required studies, CGR said that Fideicomiso Ruta 1 had moved forward with the project anyway. It also found that some management and monitoring tools for the works contained errors.

In October, the trust argued that the delays were due to the lack of approvals from national roads authority Conavi for studies and designs necessary to create the project’s financial structure. 

Project details

News outlet Carreteras Pan-Americanas reported in October that the project’s capex was standing at US$650mn.

The planned works involve the following:

Stretch 1 Sabana – Circunvalación (1.6km): To be widened to three lanes in each direction. 

Stretch 2 Circunvalación – Aeropuerto (12.6km): To be widened to four lanes in each direction. 

Stretch 3 Aeropuerto – San Antonio del Tejar (5.2km): To be widened to three lanes in each direction.

Strech four San Antonio del Tejar – San Ramón (34.8km): Improvement works. 

The improvements include the construction of intersections, bus bays, bridges, and lighting, signage and safety features.