by Rod Hughes

The University of Costa Rica’s National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models has notified the Ministry of Public Works (MOPT) that companies contracted to repair potholes in the country’s roads are using techniques and materials that do not last and cost up to triple of better ways. Moreover, these firms are resurfacing sections of road that do not need it, the lab says.

The inspectors said the companies have a tendency to “repair” a pothole by replacing both lanes and as high as 200 meters long, even though only one or two potholes existed. The companies reply that sometimes the roadway needs replacement when it is generally deteriorated but the technicians say that is not the case many times.

The lab conducted inspections outsiude of Cartago and in the Northwestern province of Guanacaste, finding the same defects. But inspectors also noted that the sections replaced use materials and techniques that show traffic damage within a year and cost triple what two longer lasting remedies do.

MOPT deputy minister Pedro Luis Castro admitted that the ministry, with 100 simultaneous repair jobs going on throughout the country, that some errors and lack of inspection may occur. The current three-year repair program got under way in the wake of a particularly damaging rainy season. He said, however, that MOPT paid close attention to the laboratory’s advice which has resulted in the government fining companies millions of colones for not following the contracts they had won by low bid.