Costa Rica, Cabei seek consulting firm for San José-San Ramón road corridor

The Costa Rican government and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) are seeking a consulting firm to conduct studies to enable modifications to the project to upgrade the San José-San Ramón road corridor.

The bank announced that it will provide US$1mn to launch an international tender to find a company to carry out technical and operational optimization studies, which will serve as a base to amend the project and make it technically and financially feasible. 

Cabei executive director Dante Mossi said the plan is to have the studies ready by the end of 2023. 

“We are pleased to finalize this cooperation. We expect to have the results of these important studies by the end of the year, which will be the technical base to structure financing that the bank will be granting Costa Rica in 2024 for these works, which have been expected for more than four decades,” he said during a press conference. 

The project has run into problems including a lack of funding and cost overruns, which have produced multiple delays. 

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

However, in December the public works and transport ministry (MOPT) said it was preparing a 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. 

The project comprises widening and upgrading 55km of the General Cañas and Bernardo Soto highways between capital San José and the west of the country. 

News outlet Carreteras Pan-Americanas reported in October last year that the project’s capex was 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 the construction of intersections, bus bays, bridges, and lighting, signage and safety features.