Costa Rican government has the funds to avoid nightmares like the one experienced by many citizens on June, 2nd, when they were trapped in an endless traffic jam in the road to Cartago.
However, the authorities lack the ability to use said funds with the urgency the backlog in roadwork demands.
A year and half ago, the Legislative Assembly approved an international credit for $450 million to finance road improvements that would end the chaos in the Florencio del Castillo Highway. But according to Marta Acosta, Comptroller General of the Republic, by the end of 2015, not a single dollar had been properly invested.
The idea was to build two overpasses at the entrance of Cartago, one in Taras and one in La Lima, aiming to end bottlenecks in that road. In addition, the funds were also intended to finance the expansion of the section between Barranca de Puntarenas and Limonal of Abangares in the Interamericana del Norte Highway to 4 lanes each, among other improvement projects.
The MOPT has a 55-month deadline to complete the roadwork and 25 years to pay the debt. Nineteen months have passed and nothing has been done so far.