Drifting lost in a wooden boat, 128 undocumented immigrants were discovered off the Pacific coast Thursday, among them 70 Chinese and 58 Peruvians, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship rescued the passengers aboard the Peruvian-registered boat southeast of the Pacific point of Cabo Blanco and brought them Saturday to the Pacific port city of Caldera.

Immigration director Mario Zamora told the daily La Nación that the incident appeared to be a people smuggling operation in which the pilot and crew abandoned the boat after its engine broke down.

A few of the Chinese citizens on board told Immigration officials (through a translator) that they had been offered a free trip from China to the United States in exchange for 20 years of work, turning over 70-80% of their earnings.

Authorities are investigating whether the Peruvians were in the same predicament as the Chinese.

Officials believe the boat carrying the migrants set sail from Peru two weeks ago and had been drifting for at least two days after its engine broke down and the crew abandoned it.

The migrants were taken Saturday to a shelter in the San José neighborhood of Hatillo where they were aided by National Emergencies Commission (CNE) workers.

All 128 passengers aboard the boat are scheduled to be transported today to Peru.

-ACAN-EFE and Tico Times

Casa Presidencial pushed for approval of a loan from Japan that will go to improving the metropolitan area’s sewer system.

The president’s office released a summary of the project Friday and said that the new system, when built, would cover 65 percent of the area and include more than a million people.

But to get the money, lawmakers must act to accept the loan by Oct. 31, the statement said. The deadline imposed by the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation already has been extended once.

Casa Presidencial noted that much of the sewage from the metropolitan area now flows into the Río Grande de Tárcoles. Then it goes into the Gulf of Nicoya.

The degradation of this watershed had become a menace not only to the sustainability of natural resources but also for the quality of life for inhabitants, said Casa Presidencial.

There doesn’t seem to be any outspoken opponents to the loan from the Japanese nor to the idea of the sewer project. But the approval is tied up in legislative scheduling.

Casa Presidencial also said that the sewage treatment plant proposed for the project will process the sludge and officials said they may use it for its agricultural value or simply put it in a landfill.

The whole project is estimated at $557 million. The first stage is $230 million. The Japanese loan will reduce the amount Costa Rica has to raise to $100 million. That is expected to be accomplished in part by raising sewer and water rates.

The current sewer network of some 160,000 hookups services about 574,000 persons but some of the pipes are more than 50 years old. In some areas sewage can be seen leaking into the street.

The project is expected to greatly improve the quality of water in the rios Rivera, Torres, María Aguilar and Tiribí, which now are basically open sewers.  The system is under the control of the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, whose officials have lobbied for approval of the Japanese loan.

The Banco Central waited for a three-day weekend to begin its plan to allow the colon to float inside a specified range against the dollar.

The bank board of directors met Friday and formally agreed to change the system in mini-devaluations that had existed for more than 20 years. The plan had been announced earlier.

The new system will begin Tuesday.  Agencies and banks that exchange money will be allowed to set their own rate provided the numbers are within the range established by the central bankers.

For Tuesday that range of rates will have a floor of  514.78 colons to the dollar. The ceiling or the point where the Central Bank would intervene to sell dollars will be  530.22 colons to the dollar.

The buy and sell rates for Friday and through the weekend were 521.22 colons and 523.39 colons. They were the last rates established by mini-devaluation.

The bank said that it would raise the buy rate each business day by 6 centimos or hundreds of a colon. The rate at which dollars would be sold will be raised by 14 centimos every business day, the bank said.

For business purposes, the Central Bank will compile each day the rates at which authorized institutions are buying and selling dollars. This will be the reference rate at which most business outside the banks will be conducted.

The bank’s stated goal in instituting this new method is to reduce inflation in the country. The Central Bank has been printing colon notes to offset its losses in protecting the colon against the dollar. The bank has a $2.8 billion deficit from years of money exchanging.

The bank said that to exchange dollars or colons now, an individual should shop around or at least check the list of rates of various institutions. And banks and similar must display their rates in an obvious location, the central bank said.