An ambitious tourism and sustainable transport project aims to revolutionize Quepos, improving the local economy and shortening travel times in the canton. It is an eco-friendly cable car with a route of 8.4 kilometers that would go from the town of Naranjito to Savegre. This would be powered by solar energy and would be covered, to protect users from the sun and rain and thus be able to operate throughout all the year.
The design of the route includes between three and eight stops, one of them in the Manuel Antonio National Park and the other in downtown Quepos. Between these two points, the travel time would be about 20 minutes, when by car it normally takes an hour.
Dual purpose
“We are talking about a transportation initiative, as happens in Medellín, more than just a tourist attraction. The idea is that both the foreigner who visits us and the Quepeño who goes to work, take advantage of the cable car,” explained Jeff Duchesneau, general manager of the Marina Pez Vela and one of the project’s sponsors.
The plan is to charge a fee $ 1 for nationals and residents, and $ 15 for foreigners, in order for tourists to subsidize the cost for people who have to use transportation every day. The project also involves the National System of Conservation Areas and the Ministry of Environment and Energy, so that eventually the cable car can be included as part of a package to visit Manuel Antonio park.
Naqtional Park most benifited
It is precisely the park that will benefit the most, since it will allow access to unexplored parts of its land and will have an alternative route of arrival, since currently it is only visited by vehicles, through a single road.
The expectation is that once completed, the cable car will move a thousand people per day. Manuel Antonio has a tourist potential of 500 thousand visitors per year and the entire canto of Quepos has almost 20 thousand inhabitants, so the demand is assured, according to its promoters.
The initiative, with an estimated cost of $ 50 million and projected to be inaugurated in 2025, is promoted by the private company, which is seeking funds to prepare the pre-feasibility study for the work.
Sources of financing
Once the data is available, the project would be presented to a multilateral organization for financing, under the concept that it is environmentally friendly, promotes sustainable transportation and the development of rural communities. Another option is to give the project in concession to a private company or interested consortium.
“It is also a lever for the decarbonization that the country so yearns for, it is a green and modern project that will attract the attention of these multilateral organizations,” added Duchesneau.
