Costa Rica has started fining the company building the long-delayed Taras-La Lima highway project $20,000 for every additional day the work remains unfinished. The latest deadline for completing the project expired on August 31, but construction is still underway and there is now no official date for when everything will finally be finished.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, known as MOPT, said the daily penalties are being applied to the Estrella-H. SolÃs consortium, the construction group responsible for the project. If the delay continues for a month, the fine increases to $30,000 per day under the contract. The construction company could challenge the penalties, however, meaning the final amount collected by the government may not be settled quickly.
For those in Cartago, the latest missed deadline is yet another chapter in a project that has dragged on for years. Work on Taras-La Lima began in December 2020 and was originally supposed to take 28 months, putting the expected completion date around April 2023. Nearly six years after construction began, some work remains unfinished.
The project covers only about 2.8 kilometers, but it is one of the most important road improvements on the main approaches to Cartago. It includes major changes at the Taras and La Lima intersections, additional traffic lanes, overpasses and other improvements intended to ease congestion through an area used by tens of thousands of vehicles each day.
Years of construction have also meant repeated lane restrictions, detours and traffic jams for commuters traveling between Cartago and the San José metropolitan area. MOPT Minister EfraÃm Zeledón said earlier this year that most of what remained involved relatively minor work, raising hopes that the project was finally close to completion. But the August 31 deadline passed without a final handover.
The delays have been blamed over the years on a combination of design problems, relocating utility lines and other complications encountered during construction. The project has also become more expensive than originally planned. Despite the latest missed deadline, much of the new road infrastructure is already being used by motorists. What remains unclear is how much longer contractors will need to finish the remaining work and formally turn the completed project over to the government.
For now, the clock is running — and so is the $20,000 daily fine.
