Costa Rica News

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Caribbean Recieves A Boost

World Bank Approves us$72.5 million to Revitalize Limón
The port city of Limón, on the Caribbean coast, will soon get a revitalization thanks to a loan for us$72.5 million dollars by the World Bank. The revamping is being called the Port-City Limón Project.

The loan is one of three initiatives in the Caribbean coast being pushed by Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, according to a Casa Presidencial press release.

The Limón project is expected to pave the way for the other two projects that will expand social programs in the region and build a mega-port.

The Arias government has put aside us$7.5 million dollars to assist in the renovation that is in addition of the World Bank loan.

According to the World Bank, the loan is to invested in urban centres, providing basic services to the areas poorest inhabitants and help reduce unemployment and raise income levels.

“With its historic center and unique Caribbean identity, Limon has great potential for tourism development but this is not being realized due to limitations in its urban planning and management capacity,” said Laura Frigenti, World Bank Director for Central America.

"This loan will help the city of Limon to diversify its economy and to develop both tourism and trade in a sustainable manner, while creating a more livable environment for the city’s poorest inhabitants", Frigenti added.

While Costa Rica as a whole has an impressive development record, the Atlantic region is lagging behind, with one in five of its inhabitants living in poverty.

The Atlantic port-city of Limon is one of the country’s most decayed cities and suffers from high unemployment and crime rates.

The port of Limon, the busiest port in Central America after Panama, is critical to the competitiveness of Costa Rica’s trade, but has become a major bottleneck to the country’s growth due to lack of reform and inefficiency. The congestion in the port affects the city as heavy freight traffic has to pass through the city center to get to the Limón terminal.

The City-Port of Limón Project will help to address these challenges through support for actions in four key areas:

- Urban and cultural revitalization: Investments focused on rescuing Limón’s unique cultural identity, while improving the city’s urban environment (sewerage, drainage, paving of streets) and attractiveness to visitors.

- Local economic development: Activities to generate new sources of employment and income, seizing the opportunities presented by growing cruise tourism and the historical and cultural richness of Limón.

- Local governance and city-port strategic planning: Technical assistance for the Municipality of Limon to improve its capacity to deliver quality services and to take an active role in the city’s development.

- Support for improving the port environment: Actions to improve transport access to the Limón and Moín port terminals and technical assistance to the Transport Ministry to support the concessions process and transport system for Moín and Limón.

“The City-Port of Limón Project is part of the Government of Costa Rica’s regional development strategy for the province, which also aims to address poverty and social problems,” said Emmanuel James, World Bank task manager for the project. “It has been designed to help develop the capacity of local and central governments to address the needs of lagging regions.”

This US$72.5 million fixed-spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is payable in 15 years, including 5 years of grace.

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