Some 66% of the roads that were worked on this year by the municipality of Nicoya, using resources from Law 8114, has been the result of work done by the canton’s residents.
In total, the Technical Roadways Management Unit (UTGV – Unidad Tecnica de Gestion Vial) budgeted ¢257,450,000 ($483,250) to work on 47 roads of the canton’s network and make improvements with gravel, patching with machinery, drainage systems and asphalt mix.
Of those 47 roads, 31 have been worked on because of requests made by residents’ organizations, the majority of which were Development Associations.
Requirements for a Road to Receive Intervention by the Municipality
According to the Tax Simplification and Efficiency Law (8114), in order for a municipality to be able to maintain a communal road, it must give people access to a school, sports field, community center or health facility, among others.
In addition, the average daily traffic must be a minimum of 30 vehicles, the road can give access to tourism interest sites or serve as a route for harvests and products from the area.
In addition, among the roads that cannot be worked on by UTGV are those that are unfit for vehicular traffic, very narrow (less than four meters wide) or full of vegetation.
Victor Reyes Carvajal, the engineer in charge of the Nicoya UTGV, noted that if a group of residents wants the municipality to repair a road, they should present a letter indicating the name of the community, a contact number, the exact location of the road and the name and signature of the residents interested in seeing that the road is repaired.
Reyes explained that the projects that are able to be processed the fastest are those in which residents provide for part of the repairs and those that are realistic.
“Projects should be realistic; there should be a large enough population that benefits, and, in addition, if the residents provide for the purchase of part of the material that will be used, the project gains more weight,” he said.
Requests can be presented at any time, though any that are presented now will be taken into account for 2016, due to budget constraints.
Pending Roads
Regarding the routes to be worked on for the rest of the year, Reyes reported that the eight kilometers between Nicoya and Nambi through Sabana Grande are pending, a project that is waiting for a technical evaluation from the procurement department.
The amount budgeted by the UTGV for the project is ¢5,600,000 ($10,500), and it is estimated that work will begin this month.
Other roads that will receive gravel work include Quiriman – Garcimuñoz (¢2,240,000 or $4,200) and the road from Nicoya to Quiriman (¢5,670,000 or $10,650). Both are scheduled to start in September or October of this year.
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