MOPT Buys Machines For Guanacaste Roads
According to transport officials, about 70 per cent of the machines used to repair the country’s roads are inoperable. Most are simply old and in desperate need of repair themselves.
A new pilot program however, is seeking to remedy the problem by using Guanacaste as its first test-subject, announced the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (Ministry of Public Works and Transport, or MOPT) earlier this week.
“MOPT will have the necessary equipment to offer continuous maintenance of the roads. This will make it so machinery is always present on our streets and will save us time by being able to mediate in the repavings,” said MOPT Minister Karla González, who added the program will run for three years.
The ministry has purchased nine new road-repair machines which will be permanently stationed at strategic points throughout Guanacaste, a region where firefighters often have to switch jurisdictions last minute depending on which roads are passable and vehicles come under constant need of repair.
An estimated 870 million colones (about $1.67 million) was invested in the new machinery and labor costs for ten roadwork crews. An additional 353 million colones (about $680,000) will be allotted for machinery repairs throughout the region this year.
The Comptroller General’s Office has given the go ahead for direct contracting and companies will begin bidding for roadwork contracts in mid July.
“I hope that thirty days after (July 10) we can decide upon the contract,” said Ms González.
“It was very happy news for us since the roadwork will help reduce our response time a great deal. When the road was bad or under repair between Belén and Huacas it took two hours to respond to an emergency,” explained Franthy Ramos, Deputy Fire Chief of the Filadelfia Station.
“With good roads we reduce (response) times to 35 or 45 minutes,” he said, remembering one particular summer fire when his brigade took more than two hours and 45 minutes to respond.
“There is a large quantity of roads in Guanacaste in need of continuous repair,” seconded Ms González.
Likewise, bridges such as the Rio Perico and Rio Grande at the entrance to Nicoya need facelifts. So do the bridges in Parrita, Paquita and Naranjo; those three, Ms González says, will amount to about $16 million (about 8.29 billion) in reparations and expansions.
Ms González says the designs are ready for Perico and Grande but her ministry is waiting for an approval from National Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment (SETENA).