AyA says that aquifers that provide water to these communities are below the historical level. Daniela Abarca / CRH.
The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) stopped a project of the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), with which it was intended to solve the lack of water that has the coastal area of ​​El Coco – Ocotal and Playa Hermosa, in Guanacaste.

The comptroller denied the request to use $1.5 million because the information presented by the AyA is insufficient and leaves doubts. Land, Price and Inaccuracies make the comptroller deny the use of a budget.

“This comptroller body finds that serious doubts remain about the procedure presented by Aya, so that by not having all the elements necessary to grant the authorization, the authorization requested is denied,” the DCA-1057 report of May 24 reads of 2017.

One of the doubts is whether this money will be used to start the project or give continuity to another that was initiated in 2006 through a trust with the Bank of Costa Rica and then suspended.

“It is pertinent to establish a line of comparison between the works already developed and the works that are intended with the second phase of the project,” adds the Comptroller.

In addition, the land on which the wells, tanks and connections would be built is in the name of the Bank of Costa Rica.

Finally, the CRG indicates that the cost of the project “is not firm and definitive because it is based on preliminary estimates”.

“There is no certainty on the part of this comptroller on the amount requested, which in this venue is an essential requirement for the procedure that was presented,” they add in the document.

According to information provided by the AyA, the water level in the coastal aquifers that provide water to these communities are below historical lows, mainly affected by the El Niño phenomenon in 2014 and 2015.