On Friday, April 17th, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC- Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Comercio) approved the use of Chinese cement in the country and therefore the company JCB will resume work on the Nosara River dike.
Construction of the dam was suspended as of Friday, April 10th, due to an alert issued by the National Emergency Commission (CNE- Comision Nacional de Emergencias).
In that alert, stopping the work was ordered until confirming that it complies with the regulation for hydraulic cements.
In the resolution from MEIC, it was determined that “there is no problem with using of that product and it does not compromise people’s safety,” after receiving studies by the National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models (LANAMME- Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Modelos Estructurales).
With this new resolution, MEIC annulled the April 10th document and authorized the use of the cement.
Alvaro Gonzalez, the National Irrigation and Drainage Service (Senara- Servicio Nacional de Riego y Avenamiento) engineer in charge of supervising work on the project, stated that not a single layer of the cement imported from China has been placed on the dike that is being built along the Nosara River.
On the night of Sunday, April 12th, a significant number of cement bags arrived at the Nosara Integral Development Association’s (ADIN) multipurpose hall, where they are being stored.
Everything is ready to start pouring the cement on the River Nosara dike. Photo by Marvin Castillo
JCB Company Affirms the Chinese Cement Is Good Quality
Juan Carlos Bolaños, president of JCB Group, affirmed that the Chinese cement is better quality and cheaper than what is produced nationally,
“In laboratory studies conducted by LANAMME UCR, our cement exceeded the Costa Rican technical standard by 94% in tests of endurance and compression,” Bolaños commented.
The technical studies from LANAMME will be available to the public as of Monday, the 20th.
Bolaños reported that they hope to resume work on the dike during the week of Aprill 20-25, and this will not involve any delay in the contracted construction work.
Comments