Chinese firm to help expand important highway in Costa Rica

SAN JOSE - China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) has won a contract for an important highway expansion project in Costa Rica, the company said on Wednesday.

The office of the Comptroller General of Costa Rica has given the green light on Tuesday for CHEC to expand Route 32, a vital highway linking the capital of San Jose to the province of Limon, where the country's most important ports are located.

The deal will see the Route 32 highway expand from two lanes to four, as well as a 107 km-long extension, thanks to joint financing between China and Costa Rica.

The deal was signed in June, 2013. The project will cost $465 million, 85 percent of which will rely on Chinese financing, said Zhou Jingxiong, senior project manager at CHEC's Costa Rican branch.

Zhou said the project will last 42 months, with eight months planned for the design phase and 34 for construction.

"This is great news, mainly because it ends a process which took too long and allows us to move on to the design and construction phases," said Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis at a press conference on Tuesday.