Multiple studies show the need to modernize the country’s border crossings to prevent exporters and importers to continue spending up to 7 hours to complete immigration procedures to enter the national territory.
The government says it has made a great progress. John Fonseca, deputy minister of Foreign Trade (COMEX) and chairman of the Council of border posts, said that upgrades in Paso Canoas, Peñas Blancas, Sixaola, Tablillas and Sereno-Sabanito are expected to begin in the second half of 2017.
Working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the government promises to complete the works in 2018.
Fonseca said that although Paso Canoas has more deficiencies in infrastructure, the upgrades will begin in Peñas Blancas because it connects Costa Rica with the rest of Central America.
In the case of Paso Canoas, Giselle Alfaro, deputy minister of Transport, explained that shared controls with Panama will be implemented and that they are working on a bilateral agreement.
Field studies conducted by the Georgia Tech Foundation also conclude that the border with Nicaragua requires more attention.
According to Emmanuel Hess, executive director of the organization, the massive influx of migrants who make every effort to come to Costa Rica to reach the United States, intensify the urgent need to start the upgrades as soon as possible.
Hess also added that Tablillas’ upgrades would start from scratch because the current government set up provisional measures and now the post requires high-level infrastructure, especially due to the volume of cargo coming from Nicaragua after the completion of the road in Bajos de Chilamate-Vuelta Kopper.