Four years after construction began on the new Villareal Ebais in Tamarindo, work could start again from scratch, according to Luis Alonso Matarrita, director of the Santa Cruz Health Area, who spoke to La Voz.
On March 14, 2022, the then director of the area, José Enrique Retana, requested the suspension of the contract awarded for about one million dollars (¢518 million) to Consorcio Mayorga Villarreal S.A., as recorded in document DCA-2371 of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The decision to halt the project was made after Consorcio Mayorga Villareal S.A. failed to comply with the project’s execution and established delivery deadlines. La Voz de Guanacaste called and wrote to the telephone numbers registered in the names of Jorge Arturo Villarreal Jiménez and Francisco Mayorga Sandoval –both representatives of the Consorcio– to get their versions of what was reported by the CCSS, but we did not receive a response by the time this article went to press.
Although at first glance the building appears to be almost complete, technical reports from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) warn that the structure has multiple defects. Therefore, the new company that takes over the work will have to demolish part of the building.
For Matarrita, there is no certainty that the work carried out is of sufficient quality and safety for future users of the medical center.
“There was no guarantee that everything that had been done by that company was suitable for an Ebais building. (…) Practically speaking, the company that is going to build there will have to demolish it,” explained Matarrita.
A review of the construction carried out by the CCSS inspection team revealed that, on the scheduled delivery date, the work did not meet “even the minimum conditions for acceptance (of the Ebais).” This is stated in official letter GM-8702-2023, issued in June 2023.
The technical study prepared by the inspection team points out at least 60 deficiencies in the construction of the Ebais, ranging from flaws in the erection of walls to poorly executed electrical installations, as detailed in study ARIM-IC-DRIPSSCH-116-2021 / ARIM-ARQ-083-2021 from 2021, included in official letter GM-8702-2023.
“The roof structure that has been installed shows obvious deterioration due to poor construction processes. The sheets are deformed, rusted, and have unacceptable cuts, among other damage that requires the replacement of the roofing,” is one of the many findings of the technical study.
Due to deficiencies in the construction of the new Ebais and unfinished work, the study considers that “the conditions of the building are not minimally sufficient to house the medical equipment requested for the project.”
The Villarreal community hall became the community’s Ebais, even without the optimal infrastructure for a health center.Photo: Courtesy
One year and six extensions, in vain
The CCSS and Consorcio Mayor Villarreal S.A. established in the contract that the construction of the Ebais should be completed in seven months. The construction company was to begin work in September 2020 and deliver it on April 20, 2021.
However, the company requested six extensions from the CCSS, which extended the completion date to November 26, 2021, according to official letter GM-8702-2023.
By the end of that year, the actual progress of the work had barely reached 48.84%, according to the institution’s calculations.
Despite the termination of the contract, according to the director of Health, the institution is recovering the money from the guarantee, and the new award retains the initially established amount of one million dollars (¢518 millones ).
No definite date
The new delay in the work is indefinite. Currently, the CCSS has not even published the new tender in the Public Procurement System (Sicop) to define the company that will take on the project.
In May 2025, the CCSS published a tender to hire the company that would resume construction of the Ebais. On that occasion, only one company applied, and it did not meet the requirement of having experience in similar projects, according to Matarrita. For that reason, the award did not move forward.
“It was declared unsuccessful. And now we are back with the requirements to request a new tender, to start a new contracting process,” said Matarrita.
The previous head of the health department, Retana, had promised that the Ebais would be ready in the second quarter of 2024. But the goal was never realistic, the current director acknowledged.
Despite the delays and the change in construction company, Matarrita assured La Voz that the design and services of the new Ebais will be the same and remain unchanged.
“The Ebais remains the same. It is an Ebais that has two care teams. It also has a dental office and a blood collection area (laboratory for blood samples),” explained Matarrita.
Community without Ebais and without community hall
Medical care is provided on a temporary basis in the community hall of the Integral Development Association (ADI) of Villareal, where the Ebais has been operating since 2019.
For the president of ADI Villareal, Jorge Rosales, the ongoing delays in the construction of the Ebais have the community organization between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, they are lending their facilities for a health service that is needed in the community, but on the other, they are losing a space for sports and culture.
“On a social level, it has been difficult because there was a boxing ring, it was used for Zumba classes, we had a music school, it was used for birthdays, for all kinds of social activities, and it has been almost impossible to use since that date (since 2019),” said Rosales.
In addition, the president of the ADI emphasized that they have suffered economic losses because they have been unable to rent out the facilities.
“Many people say that we as an association have not put pressure on the Caja, but people don’t understand that if we do put pressure on them, what we may cause is for the Caja to take the Ebais from Villarreal (from the community hall), and we will all have to move to Santa Cruz because they don’t have another building right now to relocate to,” said Rosales.
Meanwhile, the residents of Villarreal continue to travel to the clinic in Santa Cruz to receive dental and laboratory services.
Comments