A Salute to the Officers: Police officers in training gathered for a ceremony yesterday at Parque de la Paz, south of San José. They applauded a speech by President Oscar Arias, who has pledged to graduate 4,000 new officers by the time his term ends in 2010.

President Oscar Arias and Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides yesterday schmoozed with representatives of the Spanish company Grupo Nyesa, which plans to develop about 200 hectares of land in a district of the southern Pacific Puntarenas province known as La Roca.

Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José, is holding a public forum Friday on sustainable development of the country's coasts.

Course on Basic Cooking Tecniques
Including cleaning, basic vocabulary, different types of sausages, salads, rice, meats, etc., Wednesdays, today through June 13, 6 p.m.-9 p.m., Mucho Gusto Studio, Barrio Dent, Los Yoses, San José . Info: 234-0840.

Tropical Hoedown
Bluegrass music with Honkytonk Homeslice and musicians from Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident and others, plus Costa Rica's own Los Flying Borracho Brothers (Thursday), today through Friday, 6 p.m., Rocking J's, Puerto Viejo, Caribbean coast. Info: 750-2000.

By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

President Oscar Arias touted steps forward in his ambitious promise to train and hire 4,000 new police officers during his four-year administration during a police academy ceremony yesterday at Parque de La Paz, in southern of San José.

Together with top administration officials, the President saluted a new class of 1,069 trainees, some of whom were sworn in yesterday, and others of whom are scheduled to graduate from their four-month training course by October.

The Arias administration is trying to live up to its daunting promise of expanding the police force and training at least half of the existing officers – a whopping 65% of whom haven't received any official training – with a shoestring budget.

Those who have been waiting months to get a GSM cell phone line may not have to wait much longer – the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) yesterday announced it will be selling 40,000 of these lines beginning May 15.

This state-run telecommunications monopoly will sell the new lines through its agencies and approved outside vendors, according to a statement from ICE.

Those who wish to obtain a line through an ICE agency must schedule an appointment by calling a voice-activated system reached by dialing 145. This system will be available beginning tomorrow.

No appointment is necessary to get a line from an outside vendor. A cédula -- or proof of residency, in the case of foreigners -- is necessary to obtain a cell phone line in Costa Rica.

In other cell phone news, drivers in Costa Rica may soon be able to make a quick call and get traffic updates.

Through a pilot plan with the U.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Central American Institution of Business Administration (INCAE), the Costa Rican company Navegación Satelital and the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT), students from these two schools will research the best technology for the project, expected to be implemented in eight to 10 months, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Cell phone users will be able to receive real-time updates on traffic conditions from satellite systems, explained Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González.

-Tico Times

President Oscar Arias and Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides yesterday schmoozed with representatives of the Spanish company Grupo Nyesa, which plans to develop about 200 hectares of land in a district of the southern Pacific Puntarenas province known as La Roca.

This will be the first project in Latin America for the company, which has real estate developments in the Caribbean, Europe and the United States.

The $600 million development in Puntarenas is drafted to include a commercial center, four hotels and homes, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Benavides said the project, scheduled to be completed within 10 years, will create badly needed jobs for the region.

“This is good news because this government wants a synergy between communities and developers or international investors,” he said.

Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José, is holding a public forum Friday on sustainable development of the country's coasts.

Economist and researcher Marcela Román will appear at the university's Social Sciences' conference room at 9 a.m. to give a presentation entitled “ Tourism, the Real Estate Market and Sustainable Coastal Development.”

Román was a researcher for the State of the Nation project this year. The speech is open to the public and is intended to promote the upcoming annual Latin American-Iberian Congress on Development and Environment to be hosted at the university Nov. 5-9. For more information, call 263-4547.

Costa Rica's Pacific coast has undergone break-neck growth and development in recent years, much of which has gone on under the radar (TT, March 16).