Minister: Second Best, Today
by Rod Hughes
The Costa Rican woman can be immensely practical, so when Karla Gonzalez, the nation’s first female Minister of Public Works, sat down recenlty to talk with a daily Al Dia reporters she got right down to basics. Why does rain damage the roads? “Water filters into the sub-base of the roads because the roadside ditches aren’t cleaned,” the lady answered.
Asked if the resurfacing going on in various parts of the country offered the definitive solution, she sounded much like a mother explaining to her child why the family food budget must go for staples instead of sweets.”We have two choices. The first is to tear it all up and make it new, which is the perfect world. The other is to repair what is bad to make it more durable, even though it’s not perfect.”
“We don’t have the $500 million it would take to rectify what the country needs.” But she had no illusions how she would plan if she had the money. “A repair lasts for perhaps five years. Of course, the brand new surface is guaranteed for 15 to 25 years,” says this consumate realist.
She says August had the worst rains in four years. “And if that weren’t enough, (the ministry) enlarged its vehicular fleet without control, not leaving ( enough budget for road repair) investments we should have,” she said. She said no fewer than 15 bridges need immediate repair on national routes and ten more on canton roads.
What does a woman know about public works? Enough to not make fine-sounding, quickly-forgotten promises as many of her predecessors have done.