Airport Project Continues with President’s Support

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla’s recent remarks have breathed new life into an ongoing aviation project in Costa Rica’s southern zone.

Although the development of the southern zone airport has involved more studies and surveys than actual construction work to date, Ms. Chinchilla’s recent declaration that it should be designated as “in the public interest” has provided important assistance that will keep the project on track.

The president’s remarks, which also hailed the airport project’s ability to fight poverty and create jobs, mean that the effort should be given a high priority that will help it clear some previously daunting governmental hurdles. Plans call for the basic structure of the proposed international airport to be built starting in 2012.

To date, environmental studies and plans undertaken for the $35 million project have completed much of the required groundwork. For example, archaeological surveys have verified that the land selected for the airport is free of important sites and artifacts, including pre-Columbian stone spheres. However, more surveys are still ongoing, and more reports are expected before construction work is allowed to begin in earnest.

The Costa Rican tourism industry is pressing to move forward with the airport project, and real estate developers have expressed their support as well. The development of an international airport in the region would be a boon to those sectors of the economy. Current plans include a runway that could be up to 8,500 feet long, to be built on Fincas 9 and 10 in Sierpe de Osa’s Valle de Diquis. Finco 9 is already owned by a public agency, the Instituto Nacional de Fomento Cooperativo. Although the project has claimed enough land for key amenities including the passenger terminal and room for parking, the international airport is also going to require a control tower and a customs and immigration area. Two adjacent fincas may be purchased to support the airport’s future expansion.

In its first phase, the airport will have a terminal, an airstrip for landing up to 50 passenger airplanes, airline counters, bathrooms and and eating area.

In its second phase, they hope to expand the airstrip to 2,900 meters in length so that it can accommodate the landing of a typical 737 airplane that can carry 110 to 215 passengers.

For this project, JUDESUR (The Regional Development Board of the Southern Zone) donated 600 million colones (about 1.1 million dollars) . This money will be spent on geological, archeological and hydraulic evaluations that are required prior to building an airport.

The Osa Airport will soon enter the process for awarding public works, so that a private company can build and operate this air terminal.

According to officials, Funding for the airport will be provided by an allocation given to the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes by the International Civil Aviation Organization, along with additional money provided by the Dirección General de Aviación Civil and the national budget.

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That's the end of the article. We have been hearing that the environmental studies are just about wrapped up and the article above confirms that the bidding process will be starting soon.

This will be Costa Rica’s most ambitious international airport project making it the biggest international airport in all of Central America. The building of this airport will strengthen Costa Rica as the destination for eco-tourism making The Osa Peninsula its most visited area.

Tourists from all over the world will be able to fly directly into Sierpe avoiding the stop over in San Jose. Their number one destination will be Drake Bay where they will visit Costa Rica’s crown jewel of national parks: Corcovado.

There will be two ways for the tourists to enter Drake Bay, by boat and by car. The road that goes through the rainforest and along the mangroves to Drake bay is currently being worked on. There is only one established lodge on that road and that lodge is Sabalo Eco Lodge. Sabalo Eco Lodge also has boat access to the property.

Someday this road that goes by Sábalo Lodge will be paved and go all the way to Drake Bay.

Gossip

There is other news, not fit for print that has been going around as well. We’ll give you the scoop but again, this is information under the heading “gossip”; none of this information has been verified by a news agency.

The news is that there are not enough hotel beds on this side of the Osa to accommodate all the new tourists the proposed airport will bring into the area. Drake Bay is made up of smaller independent hotel and lodge owners – there are no Marriotts or Hiltons in Drake. This is what gives Drake Bay its charm and appeal, all of the variety and creativity. Well, if you believe the gossip, you can say good-bye to that as the larger corporate hotels have their sights set on this prime real estate.

Drake Bay was allowed to develop into what it is today without any zoning laws being enforced. Hotels were being built, people were working so nobody rocked the boat. That all changed when the airport started becoming a reality.

There are some lodges that were built within 50 meters of the maritime zone, basically right along the beach and that's a big no no. Over a year ago we were told that inspectors came out and marked the 50 meter zone for the first time and informed all hotel owners within these markers that when the time comes they will be removed and their hotels taken down.

There are a number of hotels that are built within 200 meters of the maritime zone, the choicest spots for the Hotel Chain’s future hotel sites. This area can only be leased and not owned. The leases are for a specific amount of time and when the concession lease is up it’s a mere formality to have a new lease reinstated. That’s until we started hearing that they are no longer renewing leases in the 200 meter zone of Drake Bay. That means that those hotels must leave when the government decides they no longer want them there.

We have heard that it’s time to clean the old hotels out of Drake Bay (remember there are not enough hotel beds to accommodate all the tourists they want to bring into the area with the airport) and make room for the big names. No doubt these new hotels will be the latest in “green” building design, eco-friendly and of course eco-luxury (one of my favorite oxymorons). The costs of these eco-palaces will be passed onto the consumer and if you want to stay near the beach in Drake Bay bring your Mastercard, where you can “Master the Possibilities” because those prices are going to be in the higher ranges for nightly stays, tours, drinks, etc.

Sabalo Lodge is in an excellent location (the only eco-lodge located between Sierpe and Drake Bay with access along the new road) to take advantage of the traffic coming from the airport and heading to Drake Bay. Sabalo Eco Lodge has a unique opportunity to profit from this new infrastructure, projected huge increase in tourism in the area and even land speculation as real estate prices here will surely increase as they did in the northern pacific of Costa Rica (Guanacaste) when the Liberia airport was built (Liberia will look like an airstrip next to the Osa International Airport). Three years after regular flights commenced in Liberia, prime beach front properties more than quadrupled in Guanacaste which helped increase property values in surrounding areas as well.

Well that’s the lastest news. We are all waiting to hear when they will bid out the airport because building should start shortly after that. Stay tuned!

 

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