Mayor Says Public Works Tender Released by January
The Municipality of Carrillo last week released plans for a $2 million multi-purpose dock to service cruise ships, pleasure craft and commercial fishermen.
About 50 municipal staff, tourist leaders and developers heard Friday the 45-meter (150 feet) dock will be awarded in concession, with a developer winning the right to build and operate the facility. The structure designed and presented by the architectural firm of Costa Rica Marina Consultants (CMC), will be concrete-covered and sit on steel pylons along the rocky beach terrain between Playita Blanca and Playas del Coco. The dock will be supported by a small sea wall.
We have the approvals,said the Mayor of Carrillo, José Maria Guevara Navarrete.
This project has been approved by the ICT (Institute of Tourism), the port division of the Ministry of Transport, INVU (the National Institute of Housing and Urban Development) and the municipality.
The process could begin as early as January, with work beginning in July. Architect Oscar Villavicencio Blanco described the facility as a small port which would include facilities for loading and unloading passengers and cargo, refueling, maintenance and minor marine repairs.
There will be a concrete ramp for launching trailer-mounted boats.
There will also be a black water treatment plant for the boats with a service of garbage collection, which will help improve the environmental conditions of Playas del Coco, Mr. Villavicencio said.
The facility will also allow for a water taxi service between key tourist towns like Coco, Tamarindo, Flamingo, Hermosa and Papagayo.
Critically, the new facility will allow cruise ships to dock, unload passengers and refuel. This will give the canton a third entry option, over and above air and land, said Mayor Guevara.
Two years ago, and following the closure of Flamingo Marina, the Windstar luxury cruise line began docking in Playas del Coco. Last season they ran 22 voyages to Costa Rica, but all of them beach-landed their passengers.
A modern dock, where the cruise line‚ mainly elderly clientele can disembark, will further cement the destination. Windstar expects to increase its number of cruises by as much as 35 per cent this season.
The municipality's decision to build a multi-purpose dock was first mooted late 2004 when they put aside $135,000 for the project. However, in something of a coup it has managed to turn that into a $2 million facility, which will be largely financed by private enterprise, with Carrillo earning valuable revenue from leasing the land in concession.
Further, in another plus, the municipality will side-step a lengthy permitting process by using documents which already exist. It sought proposals on how to build the dock from the two groups --- Administradora Bello Horizonte S.A., and the Asociacion de Marinas de Playas del Coco, or ASODEMAC --- vying to build a $30 million, 400-slip marina in much the same area.
The two development groups, who have since amalgamated their bid and are looking for a fast-track through the municipality, were only too happy to comply. Carrillo now has information like the strength of currents, wave action and tide behavior plus topographic drawings of the sea floor.
It was a very well thought out idea because it meant that the dock would not interfere with the projected marina development,said Mr Villavicencio.
The municipality also saved a lot of money because they took advantage of the studies previously done by those groups.
In fact the same access road gazetted for the proposed marina, will now be used for the municipal dock. And, whereas the marina falls under laws of the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo and thus can only be used for tourist activity, the municipal dock will service the town‚ fishing industry.
There is definitely a need for this kind of facility in Playas del Coco, said Oscar Villalobos, the technical director of Comission Interinstitutional de Marinas y Atracaderos Turísticos, (or CIMAT), the government department charged with overseeing all technical aspects of tourist marinas.
CIMAT has had little involvement with the public dock- it is outside its jurisdiction - but wants to make sure this and the proposed marina does not interfere with one another.
This dock is a way to put in order the disorder that exists with commercial fishing and pleasure craft in the area.
Posted by Chad Lio on 4/14/2010 12:58:24 PM 0 Comments