Skip to main content

Costa Rica road project facing delays?

A major road project in Costa Rica is now facing delays. The widening project for Route 32 is being carried out by the Chinese contractor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). However the land required for a significant portion of the project has not yet been secured by Costa Rica’s Ministry for Public Works and Transportation (MOPT). It is not now clear whether the road widening work will be completed within the intended schedule. So far just 10% of the work required for the whole project has so fa
May 2, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
A major road project in Costa Rica is now facing delays. The widening project for Route 32 is being carried out by the Chinese contractor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). However the land required for a significant portion of the project has not yet been secured by Costa Rica’s Ministry for Public Works and Transportation (MOPT).


It is not now clear whether the road widening work will be completed within the intended schedule. So far just 10% of the work required for the whole project has so far been carried out. Included in the project is the construction of 33 new bridges and work is well underway on 19 at present.

In all the project is costing US$465 million, with $396 million of the necessary funding being supplied by China’s Exim Bank. The remaining $69 million is being provided by Costa Rica itself.

Related Content

  • Costa Rica bridge connection underway
    November 26, 2020
    Construction is underway for a key Costa Rica bridge connection.
  • Costa Rica highway concession package cancelled
    March 19, 2014
    The Costa Rican Government is paying compensation worth US$28.4 million for the cancellation of a highway concession package. The compensation relates to the San José-San Ramón highway concession and is being paid to the Brazilian construction company OAS, reports Business News Americas. This follows a legal dispute over the project and is some $10 million less than OAS originally claimed in compensation. The 30 year concession package was cancelled last year due to opposition. There were allegations of a c
  • Costa Rica to replace Conavi with a National Infrastructure Institute
    March 14, 2016
    Amid concerns over the efficiency of Costa Rica’s highways agency Conavi, the authority has been given more time to provide details on expansion of Route 32, according to the La Republica newspaper. Conavi has been at loggerheads with the Treasury Inspector's Office which wants Conavi to move faster and authorise a contract for the expansion of road between Rio Frio and Limon granted to China Harbour Engineering Company. China Harbour has been requesting further details about the US$395 million projec
  • Costa Rica highways projects planned
    December 1, 2017
    Costa Rica’s long running San Ramon road project is costing more than originally expected while taking longer to build than planned. The work on the 30km stretch of road was planned initially to cost US$185 million but has so far cost $287.4 million. Meanwhile only around 86% of the project has actually been carried out, despite the work already having been underway for 12 years. Costa Rica’s national road authority, Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) is in discussions with contractor Sanchez Carvajal