During the Governing Council meeting in Nicoya, Guanacaste, the executive president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), Mónica Taylor, announced that the new headquarters of the Nicoya Health District will open in 2027. “God willing,” said President Laura Fernández.
The promise sounded new, but the project is not.
The project includes the design, construction, equipping, and commissioning of a primary care clinic covering approximately 5,800 square meters, intended to serve more than 57,000 people. The contract amount exceeds ₡9,381 million, as reported by the Bank of Costa Rica.
There was one detail that did not appear in the announcement: the clinic was supposed to have been inaugurated by 2027. According to Constitutional Court ruling 2023-015622, the CCSS itself had planned to complete the project in March 2026.
Doble Check was able to identify two reasons for the delay in 2023 based on public documents. On March 9, the CCSS Board of Directors suspended infrastructure projects that had not yet begun construction. The Nicoya project was included in that suspension. However, on May 4, the institution authorized the resumption of work on the 30 health care areas included in the trust agreement with the BCR.
That pause lasted about eight weeks. Afterward, three appeals were filed against the contract award. According to the Comptroller’s Office resolution, these were resolved on August 28, 2023. The contract was finally signed on October 12 of that year.
Beyond these delays, Doble Check found no public documents explaining why the new headquarters for the Nicoya Health Area was not ready by the date initially announced by the CCSS itself.
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