Current Development of Infrastructure in Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s infrastructure has been improving over the years though it is still not very strong. It has some major highways but in general, road conditions are not good. It is placed close to the top of the Global Innovation Index but ranks low on the LPI (Logistics Performance Index). Costa Rica does not have good sanitation systems and many people live without sanitary water.

As of 2017, Costa Rica had 3,140 miles of paved roads. According to the Tico Times, 38% of roads were in good condition in 2015 and that figure rose to 48% by 2017. On the other hand, the amount of roads that were in total disrepair, increased by an astonishing 71%. Between 2015 and 2017, CONAVI, (Consejo Nacional de Vialidad), invested $24.6 million for repairs on 564 miles of roads. $213.7 million is invested yearly to maintain all paved roads. Considering that less than half of their paved roads are in good condition and only about 22% of roads are even paved, they need to improve their road systems.

The Global Innovation Index measures the innovative performance of countries. Costa Rica has a score of 36.13 out of 100 and has a ranking of 55 out of 129 countries. Compared to Panama, which is the most similar country in economic factors, it ranks 20 places higher. They have a very low score meaning that they need to improve their innovation. They are behind in their aeronautics and finished their first satellite in 2017 which was to be used to record carbon emissions and tree growth from Costa Rica’s rainforests.

The LPI was created to help countries to identify their performance in logistics and how they can improve it. A countries infrastructure is ranked by the quality of trade and transport. As of 2018, Costa Rica had a ranking of 2.49 out of 4. They were ranked at 73 out of 160 countries which puts them near the top.

Costa Rica’s main industries include real estate, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries. Real estate is a large industry in Costa Rica. ‘With property ownership rights granting foreigners the same ownership rights granted to nationals, buying real estate here is more favorable than most other Central and South American countries.’ The real estate market is stable in terms of price and the cost of homes does not fluctuate greatly. Tourism is also an important industry. It brings in billions of dollars each year ad is increasing steadily each year. There are over a million tourists each year and according to the ICT, about 150,000 people are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism industry.

The government has supported growers in Costa Rica through research, training, and technical assistance even though agriculture is a declining industry. Almost 10% of land is used for agriculture and it is still important to foreign trade. Their main crops are coffee, bananas, sugar, dairy products, rice, a variety of fruits and vegetables, and ranching and cattle. The service industry is growing in Costa Rica because it has a population of relatively highly educated and bilingual people. The greatest amount of growth in the latest years is in the gaming and call center industries.