The Spanish alternative fuel company Biodiesel de Andalucia (BIDA) plans to inaugurate an $11 million biodiesel plant near the Caribbean port of Limón in December, BIDA president Cristóbal García announced Friday.

The company is in the process of acquiring permits to build the plant, which will occupy 1.6 hectares of a lot seven kilometers from Limón, García told the daily La Nación. BIDA plans to hire 35 people to work at the plant and anticipates that an additional 300 jobs will be created indirectly for those providing services to the plant.

Additionally, BIDA already has agreements with producers around Limón and the Central Valley who will provide prime material for the biodiesel plant.

Biodiesel is produced by burning fats and oils from animal and vegetable sources such as sunflowers and palm. Other sources are being investigated, according to a statement from BIDA.

Biofuels are important in today’s world because “the main ecological problems of the planet stem from global warming produced by burning fossil fuels,” García said.

The benefit of this alternative fuel is a reduction in harmful emissions and better efficiency for diesel engines. Biodiesel produces 80% less pollutants than conventional diesel fuel, and it can be used by any diesel motor, explained García, who gave a lecture last week at Universidad Nacional’s (UNA) Tropical Science Center.

The center plans to use the new biodiesel plant to research methods of abstracting methanol, or wood alcohol, from forest debris and vegetable biomass, La Nación reported.

With no international games scheduled for Costa Rican teams, the country enjoyed a full weekend of First Division soccer with Puntarenas protecting its two-point lead over a struggling Saprissa in the A Group and Cartago enjoying a whopping seven points over Las Brujas of Escazu in the B Group but with Alajuela threatening the latter only a point behind.

So far, Alonzo Solis of Saprissa leads the season in goals with a luvky 13 followed by Puntarenas’s Kurt Bernard who has 11.

Results Sunday: Puntarenas put a halt to Heredia’s winning ways with a 2-1 victory. This time Puntarenas star Kurt Bernard did’t boot in the winning goal but fed it on a pass to Kevin Sancho. Alajuela edged Cartago 1-0 on Rolando Fonseca’s 300th career goal in 1st Division and international play. Las Brujas did not advance much while tying Carmelita 1-1

Saturday’s results were San Carlos over Santa Cruz 2-1, Perez Zeledon over Santos 2-0 and Saprissa doing little to better its position with a 1-1 tie with Liberia.

HOUSTON—A clerical error left Puntarenas starting forward Michael Barrantes off the official list of players last night. Did this account for the 2-0 loss by the Costa Rican club against the Houston Dynamos?

Certainly, the Puntarenas coach Luis Diego Araez thinks so. He told the sportswriter for the daily Al Dia that losing his starter “imbalanced our entire game.” He added, “We’ll have to see who’s responsible for this administrative error.”

The error may have been made by clerks for the sponsor of the international tourney, CONCACAF, or of the front office of the Puntarenas club itself, although the administration of the latter denied stoutly that it was their fault. CONCACAF is a confederation of soccer clubs of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The loss anulls a tremendous effort last week when Puntarenas overturned the Dynamos 1-0 on a stunning goal by Kurt Bernard.

Out every 10 Costa Ricans between the ages of 18 and 24, three enroll in either a public or private university, reported Costa Rica’s leading daily, La Nacion, today. This percentage nearly doubled between 1984 and the year 2000.

This translated into 155,000 students out of 577,000 of university enrollment age. Costa Roca’s education system has raised basic literacy to 93% and the nation prides itself on providing a well educated labor pool to multi-national companies.

While many third-world nations would be satisfied with such figures, Alexandrina Mata, Vice Minister of Education, told the paper that the “country must do more” because “the majority of high school graduates don’t go on to any higher education institution.”

The demand on public institutions among high school graduates for education has led to most being rejected due to a lack of facilities and to a proliferation of private universities. For example, the state-run Costa Rica Technological Institute last year accepted only 1,951 for enrollment, out of 12,000 applicants while the University of Costa Rica rejected 21,000 who could not meet the standards of its entrance exams and a high enough high school academic record.

by Rod Hughes from news reports
The Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court approved–in effect–a fast-track vote on the Central American Free Trade Treaty with the United States, but a procedural error by the congressmen who submitted the measure for court consultation will keep it from having immediate effect, reported the country’s leading daily, La Nacion, today..
Four of the panel of seven judges voted to approve the measure, which would limit debate of ratification of the treaty. Strong opposition exists to the pact but President Arias told The Tico Times that he is confident he has the required 38 votes in Costa Rica’s unicameral congress for ratification.
Costa Rica is the lone holdout among Central American and Caribbean countries included in the pact. Today, CAFTA went into effect in the Dominican Republic.
With the high court’s ruling, backers of the measure heaved a sigh of relief that the ratification vote would not be blocked indefinitely by opposition legislative maneuvering. But “fast-track” (our phrase) is only a relative term in the glacial pace of Costa Rican politics and a hard floor fight is expected. Also pending is an entire agenda of bills to allow the pact to be put into practice, including the freeing up of the government monopoly on communications.
La Nacion estimated the number of peaceful demonstrators that took to the streets to protest the possible ratification of the pact Monday at 23,500, consisting mainly of goverment union members and teachers. It was the largest anti-CAFTA demonstration so far. The government had been braced to confront civil disorder but none developed.