Infrastructure: the Achilles` Heel of Costa Rica

 The infamous episode of the "platina" (metal plate) at the Virilla River Bridge, one of the main arteries of the capital, reflects the state of affairs of the country’s other routes, ports and airports. The latest 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report, published by the World Economic Forum, focuses again on a perennial problem faced by Costa Rica: the serious backlog in infrastructure: roads, ports and airports. 

The report states that one of the causes of greater weight in the loss of competitiveness is our poor public infrastructure, in which thirty years of neglect has amassed for our country a very expensive bill. The evidence is staggering.

The main road, the Northern Inter-American Highway, and the latest Route 27, from San Jose to Caldera, are clear evidence of neglect, poor planning and procrastination of more than thirty years of investment. 

Land Routes are the Worst of Central America  The new roads currently under construction that have been awarded to concessionaires are not exempt from these troubles. The road to San Carlos -so important for the assurance of access for residents, tourists and the development of productive activities in this region- has faced a sea of procedures and lacks the required planning for economic resources. In Guanacaste, in spite of the fact that the recent government has made some investments in road improvements and has completed some work, it is clear that these are not enough to put the country's tourism province at an acceptable level to enable it to compete with other tourist destinations. In August, Tamarindo News informed its readers of one of the most anticipated news items for the coastal communities of Santa Cruz: the publication of the bidding for the construction of the road between Veintisiete de Abril and Villarreal in the Official Gazette. 

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) approved a loan to the country of $300 million to be allocated to works such as the expansion to 4 lanes of the section between Cañas and Liberia, 50.6 km at a cost of about $154 million (the equivalent to about ¢77 billion). The Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Francisco Jiménez, explained that among the works budgeted, there includes three overpasses and $16 million to be allocated for the introduction of 19 bridges throughout that stretch of road. Despite the dynamism of the Costa Rican economy and the growth of tourism, the country now has the worst roads in Central America, a situation that is an undeniable obstacle for development. 

Bridges: The Great Debt In terms of bridges, the collapse of many of them throughout the country serves as evidence, once again, of the lack of maintenance and foresight. According to MOPT records as of 2010, 300 structures have a problem or need to be refurbished. In 2009, the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA, for its acronym in Spanish) said that 150 out of the 1,400 bridges in the country are "in a state of emergency." Neither the death toll, the number of victims injured by the wretched condition of the bridges, nor the waiver by the Minister of Transportation Karla Gonzalez during the last government due to the fatal loss of lives, have been enough for enabling the resources of public administration to solve  these deficiencies that affect dozens of communities nationwide. In 2009, a study done by Oriental Consultants Co. for the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) warned about the advanced degree of deterioration of these structures, most of them caused by earthquakes, river floods and the volume of traffic. 

Costa Rica Ports are Anchored If this is what has happened to our land routes, then let’s not talk about our ports. The Competitiveness Report indicates that as to port infrastructure, Costa Rica is now in position 137 out of 142 countries surveyed. Within the continent, our country only surpasses Haiti. The project of a new container terminal is the bet by which the government intends to partially offset the delay in port investment. However, this process has been hindered by the confrontation of social sectors such as Sintrajav, Union of Workers of the Board of Directors of Ports and Economic Development of the Atlantic (JAPEDVA), within production and business sectors. Minister Jimenez has been a major driver for constructing a new container terminal at the port in the Caribbean. 

"Last year, Costa Rica exported nearly $14,000 million and the goal is to increase this amount to reach $17,000 in 2014. This is where we need to think as a country; the ports cannot become a bottleneck for the economic growth and competitiveness of the country," said Minister Jimenez in an opinion piece published in the newspaper La Nación. 

"While for me, this is shameful. This is the result of postponing the port investment for over 30 years and I consider that it is important for Costa Rica to understand the relevance of attracting an investment of $1000 million for the construction of a New Container Terminal at Moin. The decision should not be postponed, despite the opposition from a group of trade unionists and some representatives of international banana corporations," said the chief. 

Airports: A Great Opportunity Airports generate a respite for the ailing national infrastructure. Despite the delays in carrying out work to strengthen them and the complications with public works concessions that the government did not handle well, at least we have two international airports that allow us to receive thousands of passengers, tourists and business travelers every day. Juan Santamaría International Airport is the third best airport in Latin America; it is one of the airports through which more exports are made.  

The Daniel Oduber Airport will open New Terminal in November As reported by MOPT, operations at the new passenger terminal in Liberia will start this month. This is one of the most anticipated works in a province that since 2008 has experienced the effects of the global economic crisis. The administration in charge of the new terminal will be Consorcio Coriport Inc., a group of national and foreign-funded enterprises. This terminal has been heralded as a modern passenger terminal able to serve about 1500 tourists at the same time instead of the present capacity of 900. The investment of nearly $35 million includes a building with two levels encompassing almost 23 thousand square meters.

 Local entrepreneurs have high expectations that these new works will allow the arrival of more tourists with more ease and fluency. Tourism authorities promote the attraction of new investments and airlines coming to Guanacaste. Recently, they announced the arrival of new flights from airlines such as Jet Blue, Air Berlin and Delta.

The country, according to recent publications, will sign an open skies agreement with Canada, similar to the one signed with Brazil in February. Allan Flores, Minister of Tourism, has been explaining publicly that this agreement will result in regular flights from the west coast of Canada (Vancouver).

Furthermore, he indicated that there are several other Canadian airlines especially interested in flying to Liberia. The Costa Rican Board of Tourism (ICT, for its acronym in Spanish) expects these works and the new flights to allow continued growth that this airport has experienced. In the first half of the year, Liberia registered a major increase in passenger arrivals compared to Santamaría. In the first half of the year, 157,820 people entered Daniel Oduber Airport, representing a 20.2% increase over the same period in 2010. In 7 years, the Liberian airport operations have increased five times in volume. Feasibility studies have been conducted in order to build a third airport in the South Pacific. This project seeks to aid in the economic recovery and development of tourism in this region. 

Entrepreneurs and Productive Sectors Demands for Investment Various business sectors have responded to the loss of competitiveness of the country because of the low investment in public works. For example, in his website, Rodrigo J. Altmann of the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) stressed the need for authorities to consider investing in horizontal and vertical infrastructure within their planning projects. By vertical infrastructure, they are referring to buildings for hospitals, clinics, schools and colleges, and government buildings, among others. "The country has not reacted to the speed required and the government has delayed critical decisions in planning and has been very disruptive as to the execution of public works.” 

In the newspaper El Financiero, the entrepreneurs agreed on public infrastructure investments to be a mandatory task in order for the sector not to experience more pronounced effects of the world economic crisis.   

 Switzerland is The World's Most Competitive; Chile Leads Latin America The competitiveness report of the World Economic Forum, which includes a list of 139 countries, has declared Switzerland as the world leader in competitiveness, followed by Singapore and Sweden. In Latin America, Chile continues to lead (as no. 31), followed by Puerto Rico (No.35), Barbados (No. 42) and Panama (No. 49).

These four countries are among the top 50 countries of the Report. Costa Rica ranked 56. This is essentially no change since 2009, when our country ranked 55, but in a ranking of 133 countries. 

The country has an above average level in relation to similar countries as to institutions, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market and labor efficiency, business sophistication and innovation. 

Among the advantages are: the independence of the judiciary power, the ethical conduct of businesses and legal efficiency. Primary education (due to its coverage and quality), life expectancy and low impact of some diseases, and the availability of skilled labor, all points in favor for Costa Rica. Unfortunately, however, as weak points we have: infrastructure, macroeconomic policies and market size.

Costa Rica's performance is, therefore, below average.