QCOSTARICA — On Tuesday, Luis Amador was removed from his post of minister of public works and transports for alleged irregularities and errors in the awarding of the contract for the repair of the Guanacaste Airport (LIR) runway.
The contract in the amount of US$40 million dollars went to the MECO company. According to President Rodrigo Chaves, there was an overpayment of US$2 million dollars.
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“This is a bitter pill for me,” Chaves emphasized in announcing the removal of Amador, a minister with a 7 out of 10 grade by the public in his almost two years as head of the Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT).
In some social circles, Amador was the star of the current administration and on social networks there was talk of Amador taking a shot at the presidential chair in 2026.
In recent weeks, Amador and the MOPT is a point of controversy due to a lack of attention to the road chaos in the metropolitan area, when on January 26 it closed the passage through Bajo Los Ledezma for the installation and expansion of a bridge.
Although these works are indeed the responsibility of the Municipality of San José, Amador was questioned for the absence of a contingency plan to mitigate traffic for entry and exit to and from San José.
Another issue about which there are questions is linked to the “temporary closure” of the underpass of the Las Damas bridge since February 2, 2022, and to date, there is no solution in the short term to alleviate traffic.
There is also annoyance because “Puente de la Amistad” (Friendship Bridge), the vehicular and pedestrian crossing bridge that extends across the estuary at the mouth of the Tempisque River, located on Route 18 between the cantons of Cañas and Nicoya, will be closed to traffic starting April 1 and for the next 3 months.
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Media reports indicate the Guanacaste Airport runway contract was made to order for the MECO company, which its owner has been the subject of investigation for alleged acts of corruption in road contracts, in the case known as “Cochinilla”.
President Chaves did not say there was corruption involved, however, alluded that Amador, who you could say had the final say in the awarding of the contract, was in error in awarding the contract to MECO.
This all came to light following the appeal period to public contracts.
According to the president’s explanation, the Guanacaste Airport runway had been damaged and if no action was taken, flights to Liberia would be suspended, which would have caused a strong blow to tourism.
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On June 20 of last year it was requested to include the repair of the runway in the emergency decree and an investment plan that was presented on August 17 for ¢22.9 billion colones and which was approved by the National Emergency Commission (CNE) on September 4, 2023.
A few days later, on October 12, Civil Aviation, through its director Fernando Naranjo and with the endorsement and signature of Amador, set the terms of reference for the contracting of works with two criteria: price and experience.
On October 23, the tender was published and 3 offers were received from the companies Hernán Solís (HSolís) – whose owner is also under investigation related to the Chonchilla case, MECO and Pedregal.
On January 29, MECO was awarded the contract, with the work beginning on March 4.
Chaves was clear that although the companies, MECO and Pedregal were asked to improve their offers that ended up costing US$2 million more, “the terms of reference have indications that they were designed that the award went to the company that won (MECO).”
Amador was not available for comment as he had, by the time the news broke publicly, returned to Canada, where he had left the post of a university professor to join the Chaves cabinet in 2022.
Chaves also announced that the new minister of the MOPT is the now-former director of the Consejo Nacional de Viabilidad (CONAVI), Mauricio Batalla.
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