Costanera Sur Is
Almost Complete, Only 1.5 Km Remain
Unfinished
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, has been
a busy man this week, that with tow major
road openings, all to mark an end to his
second term.
On Wednesday he inaugurated the San José -
Caldera highway, bringing to an end more
than 30 years of promises and hopes. And, on
Friday, he had the scissors out again to cut
the ribbon on the bridges of the Quepos -
Dominical section of the Costanera Sur.
Although the road is not completely
finished, work on the Costanera Sur is
moving ahead quickly, with only 1.5
kilometres of road left unfinished,
workd is expected to be completed by April.
The Quepos - Dominical section of the
Costanera Sur, a 40 kilometre stretch of
road, is perhaps the most important section,
as it connects the Pacific coast to the
interior and to the south Pacific
communities.
Although the road has existed, that section
of road took some 2 hours or more to cross,
as vehicles had to dodge potholes, missing
bridges or bridges that were one lane at
best and lack of illumination, making night
time driving almost impossible in the pitch
dark. And in the rainy season just a total
nightmare, as the road would constantly
flood.
The importance of the completion of the
Costanera Sur is it provides an alternative
to the Pacific coastal and Northern Zone
communities from Guanacaste to Quepos
without gaving to cross San José, then to
Cartago, to the Cerro de la Muerte and Pérez
Zeledon on the Interamericana Sur.
The Quepos - Dominical section of the
Costanera Sur is being completed in two
phases - the Quepos - Savegre, 19.35
kilometres, which is completely finished and
the Savegre - Dominical, 22.6 kilometres,
which is almost complete.
Once the Costanera Sur is fully asphalted,
the time from San José to the Southern zone,
by way of the San José - Caldera route, is
about 3.5 hours, half the time it takes now.
The Costanera Sur forms part of the
Puebla-Panama Plan, also known as
Mesoamerican Integration and Development
Project, a plan formally initiated in 2001,
which is intended to "promote the regional
integration and development" of the nine
southern states of Mexico (Puebla, Guerrero,
Veracruz and points south) with all of
Central America and Colombia. The initiative
was championed by the then president of
Mexico, Vicente Fox, and agreed to by the
governments of the respective participating
nations.
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Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias (centre in red polo shirt) and the ministro de Obras Publicas y Transportres (MOPT), Marco Vargas (to the left of Arias) inaugurated the bridges of the Costanera Sur, although the road will be completely finished before April.
Why inaugurate an unfinished work? It is a Costa Rican custom that the president has the right to inaugurate a work even though it is not finished. It may be for political reasons, like the current elections coming up on Sunday, February and/or to take credit for the work before leaving office.
Another case in point is the new national stadium that is being built by the government of China, that will not be ready until 2011, but officially inaugurated last month. |
