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Meta
Autor: Writer
~ 08/09/06
After three years the concession for the Puntarenas-Naranjo ferry has been settled, and transport officials said a new boat is coming that will cut down the travel time to 25 minutes each way across the Gulf of Nicoya.
The ferry is the one taken by many tourists who seek to visit the central part of the Nicoya Pacific coast.
The concession was awarded to Naviera Tambor S.A. which was operating the service along with the Asociation de Desarrollo Integral de Paquera. However, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes awarded the concession to Naviera in December of 2003. The Asociation de Desarrollo Integral de Paquera filed no less than six appeals to the Sala IV constitutional court, the ministry said.
After three years, the ministry said Wednesday that the Contraloría de la República had validated the concession award. This was the last step. The ministry said that the bid by the Asociation de Desarrollo Integral de Paquera failed because the boat was slow, motors overheated and had only one end to exit.
Naviera, the ministry said, has agreed to purchase a new ferry, which is believed to be coming from Greece at a cost of 2.97 billion colons or about $5.7 million. The new boat will quadruple the number of cars that can be transported in one trip.
The older ferry will stay in service so that by the end of November at the start of the tourism high season both ferries will be in operation. The new vessel can carry 168 vehicles and 600 persons, the ministry said.
The docks in Puntarenas are known as a place where people wait a long time to bring their vehicles on board a ferry — sometimes for as long as six hours. There also is ferry service to Paquera further south on the Nicoya Peninsula.
The association ferry sometimes took two hours to make the trip from Naranjo to Paquera, the ministry said. The new boat will do it in 25 minutes, the ministry added. Consequently there will be more trips each day.
The ministry also said that new rates for vehicles and passengers would be announced in November as well as a new schedule.
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