By Amanda Roberson  - Tico Times Staff
About $1 billion will be spent to repair 1,500 kilometers of Costa Rica’s highways in the next three months, according to a statement released yesterday by the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).

The ministry is already working on roads in the Central Valley provinces of San José, Heredia and Cartago, using asphalt produced at the only functioning plant in La Colima, Tibás, north of San José, said MOPT spokesman Omar Segura.

Negotiations are also under way with the ministry’s National Roadway Council (CONAVI) to establish up to four asphalt plants in other parts of the country where roads are in dire conditions, such as the northwestern province of Guanacaste. MOPT hopes to have this agreement with CONAVI in place and begin work on roads outside the Central Valley within the next month.

Asphalt must be at least 100 degrees Celsius to be used to fill potholes and make other road repairs – cooler temperatures cause it to lose its impermeability, leaving it subject to destruction by rain. This has made it impossible to transport asphalt from the Tibás plant to other parts of the country, the statement said.

The possibility of renting or buying a new plant for the Central Valley so that the Tibás plant could be moved to the Northern or Southern Zone is also being evaluated, and existing plants in Guanacaste and the Caribbean slope town of Turrialba are being repaired and improved. The ministry expects them to be producing asphalt for these areas by the end of this year.

Pedro Castro, vice-minister of Public Works and Transport, called the effort a “short-term solution to national roadway problems” and added that the approval of 22 contracts for highway improvements being studied by the Comptroller General’s Office would provide a more lasting solution to the country’s road woes.