- MOPT confirms it will re-tender the project after ending current contractor’s contract.
- The 7-kilometer intervention was supposed to start last May.
Image of the Alto Sucre-La Abundancia stretch that will allow connection to the new route to San Carlos. Courtesy of the Pro-Road Association to San Carlos.
The construction of the road that will connect the central section of the new route to San Carlos (La Abundancia de Ciudad Quesada-Sifón de San Ramón) with the “old” route (Zarcero-Ciudad Quesada) will have to be re-bid.
The project was awarded in May 2022 to Constructora Santa Fe and had a start order last August. However, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) stated this Friday that they terminated the contract due to alleged operational difficulties of the company to carry out the work.
“It has to be re-tendered, but there were 2 companies: Santa Fe and another company, which is the supervisor (Cemosa). The supervisor has design capacity. So, we are expanding what we have with them so that they can do the design while a new company is hired to avoid delays,” said Luis Amador, Minister of Public Works and Transport.
The new hiring is scheduled for 2024. The ministry did not provide estimated dates, but everything suggests that the works would resume in mid-2024.
The intervention consists of a 7-kilometer project to connect the Sucre community (at the entrance of Ciudad Quesada) with the central section of the new road (Sifón de San Ramón-La Abundancia de Ciudad Quesada).
The construction of the central section has been paralyzed since August 2018 by order of the Alvarado Quesada Administration (2018-2022), but the route that would connect to the Alto Sucre road is already in operational condition.
The project was awarded to Constructora Santa Fe for an amount of $12 million, which comes from the Transport Infrastructure Program (PIT) financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), at the end of the Alvarado Quesada administration.
The start of the works was scheduled to take place between April and May, but there were delays due to difficulties in hiring the project’s supervising company. Finally, the project supervision was awarded to the company Cemosa, whose headquarters is in Spain.
First, it was not possible to award it due to an appeal, and second, due to the lack of resources of the company that won the bid. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) has been supervising it during these months, but for the construction of the project, the awarding of a supervising company was needed.
The intervention consists of 3.3 kilometers of Route 700 in Sucre, connecting with almost 7 kilometers of Route 35 (new route to San Carlos) to the northern tip in the area known as La Abundancia (Ciudad Quesada-Florencia).
For residents of the area, the project would alleviate traffic congestion in the center of Ciudad Quesada and provide easy access to that locality for all residents of the Ron Ron area.
In the case of the new route to San Carlos, between Sifón de San Ramón and Florencia, the tender to resume the project would be launched in the first months of 2024. If the deadlines are met, work on the southern tip (Sifón-San Miguel de Naranjo-Bernardo Soto Highway) would start in October.
However, the most recent projections indicate that the comprehensive project would be completed by the second half of 2026.
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