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News
The Port of Caldera is on the Pacific, in the Gulf of Nicoya. A new road will link the town of Caldera with San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.
 Wondering where next to invest in Costa Rica? A new highway project means changes are in store for the Pacific port town of Caldera. Construction on the long-awaited Caldera Highway, which goes from Costa Rica's central valley to the Pacific coast, will begin in January. Now is definitely the time to scout this area.
The contraloría general de la república, or comptroller general, gave the final go-ahead to the project, which has been in the works for 30 years. The project has been promised and postponed so many times, that it has become the butt of jokes. With this final approval, however, it seems it is finally going to happen.
The 48-mile highway will reduce driving time to the coast by an estimated 45 minutes, connecting San Jose to Caldera, just south of Puntarenas, after passing through Ciudad Colon and Orotina. Currently, Caldera is about two hours west of San Jose.
Caldera is little more than a port town, eclipsed by its more popular neighbor, Puntarenas. But Caldera has an industrial port complex that accommodates not just cargo vessels, but also cruise liners. Companies like Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and the luxury Windstar line already stop here. It attracts tourists with its picturesque cliffs, beaches, and good parasailing conditions. Another draw is the rainforest—it stretches into the mountains and contains rivers, waterfalls, parks, and wildlife preserves. There is plenty of room for growth and development.
International consortium Autopistas del Sol won the concession to build the highway in 2005. Autopistas was supposed to begin work last January, but negotiations between the government and the banks financing the project caused delays. The comptroller general finally approved a new addendum that ups Autopistas' payment by $72 million to $230 million. The addendum also moves the deadline for completion back by six months to July 2010.
Autopistas will charge a toll of $2.70 to recoup its investment and make a profit. |
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Best Overseas Locations |
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by Frederik Balfour and Miguella Lam
Friday, July 17, 2009
After John Barclay sold his Glasgow-based Levis jeans franchise in 2005, he and his wife, Lorraine, knew they didn't want to spend theirretirement braving the local weather. "We always said we didn't want to be old and cold in Scotland," says Lorraine. "I wanted to be warm all year round." They spent the next two years doing reconnaissance trips to Malaysia, which offered an enticing package aimed at foreigners over 50. But their plans to move to Malaysia evaporated on the strength of just one idyllic weekend in Bali. "We were blown away by it," Lorraine remembers.
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Technology in Costa Rica |
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Costa Rica, third in Latin America in technology development
Silvia Castillo Nieto
Costa Rica ranks third among the nations of Latin America in the deployment of information technologies and communication technologies (ICTs). The data are from the Report of the Global Information Technology 2008-2009 released today by the March 26 World Economic Forum.
The two Latin American countries that are located in the first two places are Chile, 39 in place of the list of 134 nations and 42 in Puerto Rico.
Costa Rica is located in the place 56, which means that improved its position on the 2007-2008 report when he became 60.
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Happy Nation CR. |
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Costa Rica tops list of 'happiest' nations
(CNN) -- Forget Disneyland! Costa Rica is the happiest place in the world, according to an independent research group in Britain with the goal of building a new economy, "centered on people and the environment."
Costa Rica is known for its lush rain forests and pristine beaches.
 In a report released Saturday, the group ranks nations using the "Happy Planet Index," which seeks countries with the most content people.
In addition to happiness, the index by the New Economics Foundation considers the ecological footprint and life expectancy of countries.
"Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada)," the organization said in a statement.
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(No) Drill, Baby, Drill
  Sailing down Costa Rica’s Tempisque River on an eco-tour, I watched a crocodile devour a brown bass with one gulp. It took only a few seconds. The croc’s head emerged from the muddy waters near the bank with the footlong fish writhing in its jaws. He crunched it a couple of times with razor-sharp teeth and then, with just the slightest flip of his snout, swallowed the fish whole. Never saw that before.
These days, visitors can still see amazing biodiversity all over Costa Rica — more than 25 percent of the country is protected area — thanks to a unique system it set up to preserve its cornucopia of plants and animals. Many countries could learn a lot from this system.
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Financial |
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Fitch reviews ratings in Costa Rica
Agency backs BCR’s strength and warns about ILG Corporation
Ratings agency analyzes its clients’ strength in the face of tightened interbank credit.
Fitch Central America reaffirmed its national risk rating for the state-owned Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), giving it a Long-term rating of AA+(cri) and a Short-term rating of F1+(cri) with a Stable outlook.
According the Fitch report, "The ratings awarded to BCR are supported by the explicit guarantees of the Costa Rican government. They also take into account its strong franchise, solid financial condition, and excellent quality of assets. These are limited by important market risks."
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Costa Rica:
Cultural Similarities Make It An Outsourcing Favorite
Stafford says Costa Rica's proximity is a plus.
TIMOTHY ARCHIBAL
Brian Stafford wanted to tap global talent but wasn't sure how. Stafford, president and chief executive of ChemSW, a Fairfield (Calif.) software developer, liked the idea of using offshore programmers in part because his work needs ebbed and flowed, making it difficult to hire staff. He talked to outsourcing firms in India and Ukraine, but, worried about the time differences and sometimes hard-to-understand accents, never signed a deal. In summer 2008, however, Stafford found a great outsourcing partner for his 22-person, $4 million company.
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