Peak tourist season is coming and the new highway that businesses and residents were counting on to attract tourism to Nosara and prevent illness produced by dust seems like a bad joke.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) and the National Roads and Highways Council (Conavi) revealed one of their worst defects in the construction of 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) of road between Garza and Santa Marta, in Nosara.
Lack of organization and late decision making compound the typical “we can’t reach an agreement” response, poisoning the Nosara community with another broken promise.
In the series of unfortunate decisions, one stands out: the use of material for one of the layers of the road (the base) that didn’t comply with the technical specifications of the contract bid requirements, as we explain in our report in this edition titled “MOPT Uses Defective Material and Halts Construction of Route 160” .
Lanamme said that vehicles should not continue driving on the highway, but institutions allowed it
The fault was detected in September by a laboratory and at the close of this edition, October 31, the company contracted to build the road had still not delivered the new material that properly complies with the specifications in order to continue with the road’s construction. When will they deliver it? No one knows the answer to that question. When will the road be paved? No one knows that either.
The institutions deny that they lost money on the use of defective material, but what is true is that, during construction, they wasted workdays and equipment that can’t be recovered (they refuse to quantify how much).
Conavi reduced payments for travel expenses and overtime hours for workers
If the problems aren’t costing MOPT and Conavi any money, they are costing the general population. Every trip along those 10 kilometers is a torture that tourists and locals have no desire to suffer. As the dry season starts, flooding ends, but the dust kicked up by the road that affects health in areas near the street begins.
Any way you slice it, we lose and we lose a lot. The infinite inability of MOPT and Conavi to build a proper road takes its toll on us once again.
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