By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Luis Diego Arnáez, coach of the Pacific port city of Puntarenas' soccer team, yesterday became the first Costa Rican to process paperwork for his passport in that city rather than having to travel to San José. Arnáez's tramite, or bureaucratic step, toward getting a passport, marked the beginning of a new system aimed at decentralizing Costa Rica's notoriously slow Immigration Administration, according to Public Security Ministry spokeswoman Marielos Barboza.

Through an alliance with Banco de Costa Rica, Immigration obtained the equipment necessary to process passport paperwork from several points around the country, explained Immigration Director Mario Zamora in a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

Those who choose to request their passport in Puntarenas can pay the necessary fees and have their fingerprints and photos taken at the local Banco de Costa Rica, the statement said. This information will then be sent to Immigration's central office in San José, where passports are made, and sent back to Puntarenas within 15 days, saving people a trip to the capital, the statement said. Alternatively, they can travel to San José to pick up their passports.

Immigration plans to bring this service to other cities in 2007 including the northwestern Guanacaste city of Liberia, and the Caribbean port city of Limón.

The service is part of Zamora's plans to improve Immigration, an infamously inefficient organization. He also hopes to computerize the disorganized paper file system, Zamora told The Tico Times earlier this month (TT, Dec. 8).

In addition to making paperwork processing more efficient, Public Security Minister Francisco Berrocal said he hopes this new system will “eliminate certain practices of corruption” seen at Immigration, such as users paying someone to stand in line for them, the statement said.

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Drivers in the San José area are receiving a Christmas gift of sorts from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) – through the end of this month, they can drive through several toll booths for free during the afternoons Mondays though Fridays.

The ministry decided to let drivers onto the highways for free in the afternoons to ease December's congested holiday traffic, said MOPT spokesman Omar Segura.

The toll booth at the entrance to the Florencio del Castillo highway, running from San José to the eastern province of Cartago, is closed from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., while driving on the General Cañas highway, which runs from La Sabana, on the western edge of San José, to the Juan Santamaría Intern ational Airport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, is free from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. The toll booth for the Próspero Fernández highway, which connects the capital with the western suburb of Escazú, does not charge from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

These free hours went into effect Dec. 11 and will continue through Dec. 31. From noon Dec. 24 until noon Dec. 25, all toll booths will be free, the statement said.

Additionally, toll booth workers are allowing cars to pass through without paying anytime the line grows longer than 500 meters, and they resume charging once the line goes down.

Costa Rica will close out 2006 with an 18% growth in exports over last year and foreign direct investment of more than $1.5 billion, a 75% increase over last year, Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said yesterday at a press conference.

The country's goal is to reach $18 billion in exports in 2010, which means growing 25% annually during the coming years. In terms of foreign direct investment, the country hopes to bring in $1 billion each year for the next four years.

To reach these goals, the Foreign Trade Ministry has two main objectives for 2007: ratifying the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) and negotiating an association agreement with the European Union.

Additionally, the ministry has its sights set on opening new markets for exports with Asian countries, which receive 17% of Costa Rica's exports.

Costa Rica's primary exports are parts for microprocessors, banana, medical equipment, pineapple and coffee.

-ACAN-EFE