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Costa Rica - Dry Canal

By late 2016 Costa Rica was studying a $16 billion interoceanic mega-project that would include a nearly 200 mile 10-lane highway, a railway, three airports, three ports and other developments. Costa Rican authorities are mulling a proposal for the largest infrastructure project in the Central American country’s history: a US$16 billion “dry canal” to connect major ports on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The country’s National Concessions Council (CNC), together with other institutions, received the proposal from a private consortium of construction companies called the Dry Canal of Costa Rica, known by its Spanish acronym Cansec.

Two companies have already submitted bids for the construction of this dry canal to the National Concessions Council, along with Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico (INCOP), Junta Administradora Portuaria de la Vertiente del Caribe (JAPDEVA) y del Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (INCOFER). The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) was studying the possibility of concessioning the construction of a 320 km railway that would carry thousands of containers a day between the Caribbean coast and the Pacific.

The Canal Seco de Costa Rica (CANSEC) land transport system would include a two-way rail system and a 10-lane highway spanning across nearly 200 miles to link up three new major shipping hubs — two seaports and one river port. The mega-project also includes plans for three international airports, 30 hydroelectric projects, 28 new residential communities and other developments. The proposed new ports would be built Parismina on the Caribbean coast, Santa Elena on the Pacific coastal province of Guanacaste and in San Carlos in the Alajuela province. The cross-country system is designed to allow shipping authorities to unload goods from one coast, transport by land to the other coast, and reload in less than 30 hours. Backers of the project claim it will create 80,000 jobs. Government officials are currently studying Cansec’s proposal. Authorities have suggested that the project would complement the Panama Canal and not become a competitor with the neighboring country’s infrastructure.

"The potential offered by the project for the country are immense, and that we add strategic location conditions of Costa Rica, in the belt of the Americas, proximity to major global shipping routes, the capacity to generate clean energy and the privileged topography to perform the interconnection between two ports on both coasts, having the area of ??the proposed route, only 1% gradient, which technically offers great benefits for the construction and operation of the railway and road infrastructure required " said Sylvia Jiménez of CNC.

Another initiative is called Continental Interoceanic Train (TICO). This is led by Costa Rican architect Rafael Esquivel, with the support of a group of US investors. This project proposes to install a port terminal in Parismina, Limón, and one in Punta Descartes, Guanacaste, together with two tracks (one in each direction) to move convoys with capacity for 440 containers per trip, with departures every 40 minutes, approximately. Esquivel said they plan to move 15,000 containers a day. The investment would be about $ 4,000 million. He said that is waiting to confirm the State's interest to continue with the feasibility studies and environmental impact. "This project was first mooted in 2007, but this administration has shown interest and we are taking up the project," he said.

The intention of both projects is to develop a logistics system to accommodate vessels of up to 18,000 containers and transfer their cargo from one coast to the other to compete with the Panama Canal. On 26 June, the neighboring country to open an extension in its shipping which will allow the passage of vessels with a capacity of up to 14,000 TEU. Each TEU equals a 20-foot container.

The timeline for completion of the project is estimated to be up to five years. Feasibility studies are expected to be completed within one year. The anticipated environmental impacts of the project remains unclear.