Yet Another Minister Falls. Total Now At 11.

Presidenta Laura Chinchilla asked her minister of Transport, Francisco Jimenez, to resign his post following complaints of alleged corruption with the construction of the 160km road, the Juan Rafael Mora Porras, near the Nicaraguan border.

Visibly upset, the presidenta said Friday afternoon she asked Jimenez to leave the ministry after complaints of the receipt of gifts by two CONAVI officials with respect to the border road.

Chinchilla said Jimenez agreed to resign to avoid compromising the work of the parallel road to the river San Juan bordering with Nicaragua.

Jimenez told reporters he stepped down after Chinchilla announced she had received evidence that two officials in his ministry took payments for giving preferential treatment to companies involved in the construction of a road along the San Juan River.

There was no suggestion that Jimenez was complicit in any wrongdoing, Chinchilla said.

This is the second resignation in five weeks. On April 2, Costa Rican finance minister Fernando Herrero resigned after a tax evasion scandal.

Eleven out of 23 ministers in Chinchilla's Cabinet have given up their posts in the last two years. Only three of them have taken other jobs in the government. (Reporting by Isabella Cota; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

The ministro de Comunicación, Francisco Chacón, said that a complaint has been filed with the Attorney General's office to open an immediate investigation into the alleged corruption.

Construction of the border road began in September 2011, following the border conflict with Nicaragua over the Calero Island. The road connects the remote border towns in Costa Rica's remote northern corner, which could only be reached by navigating the San Juan river.