Summary of the Request

The Request alleges various harms to the community of San Joaquin de Santa Marta, in particular due to the poor condition of the access road to the community. The Requesters indicate that the Executing Agency of the Project agreed to the reparation and maintenance of the access road, as part of the compensatory measures established for the Reventazón Hydroelectric Power Project; however, they report that the poor condition of the road persists.

It is alleged in the Request that the road is affected by landslides in some sections, reducing its current width to only one-and-a-half meters and consequently to a single lane of circulation in these sections. According to the Request, this is said to have affected the transportation of agricultural products that are the livelihood of this community. Requesters also fear that, as the rainy season is expected to begin in the region, the situation will worsen and the road will suffer major landslides.

In addition, the Requesters allege environmental harm derived from the generation of greenhouse gases due to the failure to remove vegetation from the reservoir area prior to the filling of the Project reservoir.

Lastly, the Request indicates harms to the community due to the increase in unemployment attributed, according to the Requesters, to two factors: i) the Project initially employed several members of the community, but these workers were dismissed once the construction was completed; and ii) due to the process of expropriation of adjacent lands to the reservoir, several local workers who were engaged in agricultural activities are said to have been dismissed due to the reduction in the production of farms in the area.

The Project is financed through five funding operations, including two technical co-operations.

Recent actions

On February 21, 2017, the MICI terminated the administrative process of the Request in order to allow the Requesters the opportunity to establish contact with the Project Team and seek to first resolve their concerns directly with this team. The Requesters were informed of the possibility of re-filing the Request with the MICI, in the event that they consider their concerns to not have been addressed by the Project Team within a reasonable period of time.

Past actions