State and Riteve Renew Their "Marriage" Vows

Described as a marriage of convenience that started a decade ago, the government and the Spanish company are set to continue the union with the renewal of the contract signed in 2002 and now will end in 2022, where the state will end up with assets of the marriage, valued at us$50 million dollars.

In return the government continues closed the door to competition and the company maintains its monopoly, some like the director of the Transport Division of the MOPT, calling it the "golden goose".

"Its the best business model I've seen here", Chan told La Nacion, explaining that according to a study by the Universidad de Costa Rica in 2009, the company recovered its initial investment in the first four years of business.

However, Riteve denies the validity of the report. Its manager, Fernando Mayorga would only say that "there is no loss".

The company's earnings are a secret, a secret even kept by the government, despite the dispute over a fare increase by the Aresep and a claim of us$350 million dollars by Riteve in an arbitration court in the United States.

For Riteve, the company feels that users (vehicle owners) should pay double the current rate.

At the beginning of the year, the government had been working on opening the vehicular inspections seeking bids from other operators, where Riteve would compete. However, at the last minute last month, the MOPT announced it would renew its deal with Riteve, saying there were no viable competitors and to bring in new operators it would stall the vehicular inspections system by a couple of years.

At the heart of the renewal is the original agreement where the state ends up with the assets - the stations and equipment - after 20 years continuous operation by Riteve. And the Spanish company modifying its arbitration claim.

According to Mayorga, Riteve was ready to compete in an open market. In fact, Mayorga explains, it did not suit Riteve to continue as the sole concessionaire, for it would have had to hand over its assets in 2022.

Rodrigo Rivera, viceministro de Transportes, justified the government decision by saying, "the openess would no have benefited the user, rather it would have run the risk of a worse benefit".