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.