“There hasn’t been a community in the province of Guanacaste where the subject of water resources hasn’t been mentioned.” These were the words of the president of the republic, Luis Guillermo Solis, who declared the Integral Program of Water Supply for Guanacaste to be of public interest during the solemn session of the municipal council held on July 25th in Recaredo Briceño Park.
The declaration will speed up some aqueduct projects that have already been started and allow others to begin. In total, there are 12 infrastructure projects for the province, which will involve an investment of ¢27 billion ($50,943,400).
According to the president, one of the 12 projects is the expansion of the Nicoya aqueduct.
“From the time of this decree, probably by the month of April of 2016, Nicoya will have the first stage of the aqueduct. We have an important development of water projects, which now include a very intensive and very respectful dialogue with community movements…. What we are doing is speeding up the processes that are in the works,” Solis said.
The president of AyA, Yamileth Astorga, clarified that the expansion will take place in two stages. However, the first will be ready by next year.
Before beginning the solemn session, President Luis Guillermo Solis greets protestors who were demanding their rights in the colonial square.
“We get underway in Nicoya on August 8th. We get underway with the first stage of expansion of the Nicoya aqueduct. Nicoya, like Liberia, has not had water availability for several years and this is a problem, because there are housing needs, but without water, housing projects can’t be approved. Now, with a declaration of national interest for the Nicoya project, we could be inaugurating the work next year before July 25th,” specified Astorga.
Although she did not specify the exact amount of the cost of the first stage, Astorga commented that both phases are budgeted within a current loan from the European Central Bank.
Another one of the projects, and one of the biggest ones, is the water supply system of the middle basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities, which has been designated to ICE as an Executive Unit Project.
One billion colones ($1,886,800) have been earmarked to begin the design phase of the dam and reservoir through the water use fee fund that is managed by the Water Administration in the 2016 budget.
President Luis Guillermo Solis signs the declaration of public interest for the comprehensive program of water storage for Guanacaste.
More Visits to Guanacaste
Another important agreement made on July 25th was the formation of the Guanacaste work table, which was composed of the heads of the ministries of Environment and Energy, Housing, Public Works and Transportation, Labor, Finance, the executive presidents of AyA and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute.
The legislators elected for Guanacaste will also be part of the table, which will have the main objective of following up on the agreements between the executive branch, legislative fractions and productive, social and academic sectors in the province of Guanacaste.
Solis remarked that the team should meet in the province at least every two months to move forward with the projects that are being done and learn about the realities of Guanacaste.
Comments