Government Wants Coastal Regulatory Plans By 2010

Aug 29, 2008

By Zoraida Diaz, GUANCASTE, Costa Rica (The Beach Times)

The Central Government said this week it was pushing to have regulatory plans adopted in all priority coastal tourism enclaves by 2010.

Regulatory plans, effectively blueprints for what kind of building and development will be allowed in and around municipalities, have become a priority development tool for the government.

“Through the program BID-Catastro, we are compiling information for each canton to determine which regulatory plans are priorities, and how to better apply the maritime public zone laws,” said the Minister for Planning, Roberto Gallardo, this week.

The National BID-Catastro plan (Projecto Regularización de Catastro y Registro) is a $92 million project which aims to map and control the country’s urban development by modernizing the property registries, and organizing the country’s territory.

But the program, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been slow in execution.

“Our priority is to draft the regulatory plans of the coastal Pacific region,” said Miriam Miranda, of the BID-Catastro Project.

“We have already contracted the company EPYSA to develop the coastal plans,” said Ms Miranda, adding that both EPYSA and another company, House de Montt, had also been selected to draft the regulatory plans for Guanacaste’s 11 municipalities.

The plans have a cost of $650,000.

“We’re going to comb the coast reviewing existing regulatory plans and drafting others from scratch,” she said.

Rodolfo Lizano, Director of Planning and Development at the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), said the strategy was clear.

“ICT has decided to invest in comprehensive regulatory plans — for instance, we speak of regulatory plans for Guanacaste North. We’re talking of some 18 kilometers (11 miles) of beaches that include areas of tourism activity like Playa Hermosa, Playas del Coco, Ocotal and Bahia Azul,” he said.

“In Coco, we have reviewed the existing regulatory plan taking into consideration the current needs and history of the area as a tourism destination,” he said.

“In Coco everything’s atop each other and there was even an invasion of the public maritime zone, as well as an ill-conceived water management…what this order seeks is to add value to the tourism activity through the viable use of the land,” he said.

The great fear is that unfettered development will undermine tourism, the country’s top revenue earner.

“Under prevailing disorder and pressure on the resources, tourism niches can be lost for it generates pollution making the offer less competitive,” said Mr Lizano.

“All this (pushing for regulatory plans) is done to add value to the tourism offerings.”

According to Ms Miranda, in many cases the municipalities had approved regulatory plans paid for and promoted by the developers themselves.

“The developers donate the plans to the municipalities, but the plans may very well not respond to the needs of the country,” she said.

Ms Miranda is certain all of Guanacaste can be regulated by the plans, and that the plans for the 11 cantons would be finished within 15 months.

“I am confident the plans will be finished by 2010,” she said.

Ms Miranda says the project has greatly advanced, as they have mapped the entire Tempisque and Arenal Conservation Areas.

In Ostional, the regulatory plan is stalled, as they wait a ruling from the Attorney General’s Office to determine the boundaries of the national park. In Playas del Coco the regulatory plan is well on its way, while in the Municipality of Garabito, the plan is before the Institute of Housing and Urban Development (INVU).

“We sent them the last revision,” said Garabito’s Mayor, Marvin Elizondo. “This is a comprehensive regulatory plan for Playa Hermosa, Jacó, Tárcoles, Herradura, Playa Azul, and Guacalillo, some 500 meters before the Costanera.”

Mayor Elizondo said he was hopeful once they had the approval of the different institutions, they would be able to continue to the public audience, the last step before the plan goes before the municipal councils.

In Tamarindo the Asociación Pro Mejoras de Playa Tamarindo has raised the funds to pay for the drafting of the regulatory plan. The process has taken the better part of five years, and has cost $75,000 to date, not including the $10,000 still needed to pay for the the Environmental Fragility Indexes (IFAS).

Federico Amador, a spokesperson for the Association, is skeptical of the government’s timeline, as he says not even government institutions are abiding by it.