The Board of Port Administration and Economic Development of the Atlantic Slope (JAPDEVA) approved the selection of the three finalist companies to carry out the feasibility studies for the new Cruise Terminal and Limón Marina.
These are the groups Moffat & Nichol, Bermello AJAMIL / Partners / AUSENCO, and Arcadis & Camacho y Mora, whose technical offers obtained the highest scores among the nine international companies and consortia that had passed to the second stage of the process.
This news, of great interest to the people of Limón, was announced by the executive president of JAPDEVA, Andrea Centeno, at the Governing Council held in Limón this Monday, August 31st.
Centeno explained that it will now be up to the Planning Ministry’s Pre-investment Fund (MIDEPLAN) to give the endorsement to JAPDEVA to start the stage of opening economic offers.
“The JAPDEVA Board of Directors approved the technical evaluation of the Second Phase. Of the initial fourteen bidders in January 2020, there had been pre-selected nine in June and the number has already been reduced to three. Once we receive the endorsement of MIDEPLAN, the first economic offer will be opened. We expect this to happen in two weeks and start final negotiations with the company obtaining the highest score,” Centeno added.
The financing for this contract comes from the Mideplan Pre-investment Fund, approved in May 2019. These are non-reimbursable resources for an amount of ₡ 1,023 million. Both President Carlos Alvarado and Vice President Marvin Rodríguez recognized the work carried out by the JAPDEVA administration, led by Centeno, which has made it possible to advance in this strategic project for the province of Limón, which will make it possible to transform the Hernán Garrón Salazar Terminal into a port that promotes international tourism and generate employment by attracting cruise ships and recreational and sports vessels.
For his part, the president of the Costa Rican Association of Industries and Cruises, Wagner Loría, “thanked JAPDEVA for making comprehensive progress in the infrastructure modernization agenda amid the Pandemic.
“It will undoubtedly be strategic to have in the Caribbean a modern and functional port and marina designed for the passenger market that Costa Rica demands both large and expedition cruises and for maritime tourism in general,” he said.
“The Limón Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism (CCITUL) congratulate Japdeva for the progress in the process of selecting the company that will carry out the pre-feasibility and feasibility study of the new Cruise Terminal and Marina in Limón. We celebrate this important step in the right direction to turn Limón into a Home Port, which will strengthen the Huetar Caribe Region as a world-class tourism development pole, supported by our natural beauties, multiculturalism, multiethnicity, gastronomy, music and our country image”, stated Roy Acon Toy, President of CCITUL.
In detail
The contest began in November 2019 with the publication of the poster and has already passed the stages of background studies, pre-selection, and analysis of offers. For the technical evaluation, the qualifying commission -which is made up of interdisciplinary professionals in engineering, finance, planning- took into account in the methodology elements such as previous experience in the preparation of feasibility studies for infrastructure works and specific design of marinas and cruise terminals, training and professional experience of the consulting group in charge, as well as a methodological proposal and work plan.
The project for a new port terminal specialized in cruise ships and a marina is one of the axes defined from the Port Master Plan drawn up in 2008. The Alvarado Quesada Administration promotes it together with JAPDEVA as the key and trigger for the tourist development of Limón.
The Tourist Marina will be located in 20 hectares (including water mirror) of the port facilities in the central canton of Limón and will include a nautical and a dry marina, a commercial and residential area, and a tourist berth.
Having a port terminal specialized in serving cruise ships has been identified as one of the projects with the greatest potential for impact on the development of the province of Limón. Before the season cancellation due to COVID-19, the Hernán Garrón Salazar Terminal of JAPDEVA received an average of 200 cruise ships a year and more than 200 thousand cruise passengers.
According to data from the port authority, each cruise represents foreign exchange for about $ 300 thousand in the region. Artisans, businesses, tour operators, carriers, and workers of these companies are part of the hundreds of direct beneficiaries of the activity.
