“We are demonstrating that we are able to move forward in projects that are crucial for the development of Limón, despite the challenges we face we also continue to take important steps in search of new opportunities for Limón. In the last 3 months, we not only received the approval of the Mideplan Pre-Investment Fund, but we also worked on the terms of reference and we already have the green light to launch the public tender to hire the firm that will carry out the pre-feasibility studies and feasibility for the Cruise Terminal and the Marina in Limón”.
With these words, the Executive President of the Board of Port Administration and Economic Development of the Atlantic Slope (Japdeva), Andrea Centeno, expressed satisfaction with the signing of the agreement signed between the Pre-Investment Fund of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (Mideplan) and the institution he directs.
To finalize the agreement -signed the previous week by the Minister of Mideplan, Pilar Garrido, and Centeno- the technical teams of both institutions worked in an articulated way for weeks in the elaboration of the terms of reference and the information necessary to specify the launch competition. Soon the publication will be made to invite bidders to participate and from that moment there will be a period of 130 days to award the public tender.
The financing for this contracting comes from the Pre-I
“These studies were prioritized in the National Development and Public Investment Plan 2019-2022 in order to transform the Port of Limón, generate employment, provide the province with safe leisure and entertainment spaces, exploit tourism in a sustainable way and bring socio-economic benefits to the community, ”said Pilar Garrido, head of Mideplan. He added that “we want to improve the port infrastructure through rehabilitation, habilitation, expansion, and construction work, to offer users greater security and efficiency in services. This is the first step to achieve it”.
Explaining in Detail
The project for a new port terminal specializing in cruises and a marina is one of the axes defined from the Port Master Plan prepared in 2008. The Alvarado Quesada Administration is promoting it together with JAPDEVA as key and trigger of tourism development in Limón.
The objective is to transform the Hernán Garrón Salazar Terminal into a port that promotes national and regional tourism and generates employment by attracting cruise ships and recreational and sports ships.
The Tourist Marina will be located on 20 hectares (including a water mirror) of the port facilities located in the central canton of Limón and will include a nautical and a dry marina, a commercial, residential area and a tourist berth.
Short-term works
Taking into account that in 2018 93 cruise ships and 193 thousand cruise ships arrived in Limón, the Hernán Garrón Terminal will have a series of aesthetic improvements and services for cruise passengers that will arrive from October 2019. For this, JAPDEVA and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) will intervene in the coming weeks in order to implement immediate repairs and improvements while the project for the transformation of the terminal continues.
