The Comptroller General’s Office has demanded that the OsaMunicipality investigate activity associated with a series of concessions granted to four Costa Rican corporations along the southern Pacific coastline.
The daily La Nación reported that one of the companies, Punta Dominical, S.A., had allegedly used government housing bonds in its efforts to obtain concessions on land in Domicalito, near Dominical, between 2000 and 2004, as part of a complicated series of transactions meant to remove residents from the region’s Maritime Zone.
The country’s Maritime Zone, a coastal strip within 200 meters of the sea, is known as concession property, and is available for development under long-term lease with the corresponding municipality.
The La Nación report indicated that some of the residents, among them fishermen, occupied the land illegally, but had recently applied for concessions. According to residents’ allegations, the housing bonds and “pressure” were used to get them to drop their concession applications and move off the land.
The Comptroller’s request, which was labeled confidential, names a series of concessions to be investigated, at least one of which is owned by the Punta Dominical development, according to Osa Mayor Jorge Cole.
On its Web site, Punta Dominical calls itself the “largest real estate developer in the Southern Pacific zone of Costa Rica,” and claims to be the “largest landowner in the Dominical region, with over 2,000 acres under careful control, to keep the character of the place intact.”
Punta Dominical pre-sold its first group of 30 condominiums in one day June 14 for a total of $9 million. Four Costa Ricans, 25 U.S. citizens and one Canadian purchased the future condos (TT, June 22).
