Source: http://www.journalcr.com
Posted by Roger Vlasos
Broker/Owner
Century21 At the Beach
Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Website: http://www.century21incostarica.com
Email: roger@century21incostarica.com
Touris(Infocom) — The investment made by the Ministry of Transportation and Public Infrastructure (MOPT) in the past two years on Guanacaste roadways has not gone unnoticed by tourists.
A survey conducted between January and March by the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism (CATURGUA) at Liberia’s Daniel Oduber International Airport found that the level of satisfaction with the province’s national routes went from 1.75 (bad) in 2006 to 2.97 (good) this year.
MOPT data indicates that between 2006 and 2008, the government has invested 13.8 billion colones (almost $28 million) on national highways that run through Guanacaste, including works such as curb and bridge maintenance, concrete slab repair, pothole filling and paving, among others.
Additionally, MOPT spent 1.2 billion ($2.4 million) colones paving the Belen-Huacas-Matapalo route in the cantons of Carrillo and Santa Cruz, for a total of 36.4 kilometers.
Progress is also being made on the 13.2-kilometer highway that connects the communities of 27 de Abril, Rio Seco, Paraiso and Villa Real. This project has an estimated cost of 3.9 billion colones (almost $8 million). Other works include the highway that connects Hojancha to Puerto Carrillo, which is 90 percent paved now and represented an investment of 4.2 billion colones.
CATURGUA Executive Director Mauricio Cespedes said that in addition to offering national and international visitors roads in better shape, a plan has been developed to increase the number of road signs through an agreement betweee MOPT and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
“We have seen that in the past two years, many national routes have been improved in Guanacase, which clearly reflects in the increase of favorable opinions among those who visit our province. We must highlight the intense work put forth by MOPT in this area,” Cespedes said.
Currently, another project is being developed to improve rural roads in Guanacaste through an investment of 4.6 billion colones (over $9 million). This project involves MOPT, communities that stand to benefit from the works, consulting from the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), and financing from the German Bank for Reconstruction and Promotion (KFW).
