CABEI approves innovative financing for Costa Rica to develop "Ciudad Gobierno" megaproject

San José, February 28th, 2023 - The new complex of state-owned buildings where most of the ministries of the Republic of Costa Rica will be located, known as "Ciudad Gobierno", will be financed and developed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which approved on Tuesday US$450 million for this purpose.  

In this way, the multilateral will be in charge of carrying out the international bids for the construction of the building system, leasing the property to the State and, subsequently, transferring it to it over a maximum period of 25 years, so that the country can save the approximately US$23.5 million a year it currently pays in rents, explained the President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, and CABEI's Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi, at a press conference held at the site where the work will be carried out in San José.  

"Ciudad Gobierno will be a beating heart that will inject development into our capital city and allow us to save millions of dollars paid annually in rents for 18 institutions that will now be located in the same place. This is a great opportunity to promote urban renewal, improve land use, implement energy efficiency and bioclimatic strategies," indicated the President of the Republic, Mr. Rodrigo Chaves.  

CABEI's Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi, said, "We are a strategic ally for the region because we know how to respond effectively and timely to the requests of our member countries, as in the case of the Ciudad Gobierno megaproject for which we structured an innovative model known as BOLT (Build, Operate, Lease & Transfer) that will allow us to carry out a more expeditious, transparent, flexible and competitive process at a lower cost than traditional processes.” 

This is not the first time CABEI has developed this type of project in Costa Rica, as it participated as developer, owner and lessor of the Pailas I project, which consisted of the construction and start-up of a geothermal power generation plant with a capacity of up to 42.5 megawatts of renewable energy. 

The financing, which is framed within CABEI's 2020-2024 Institutional Strategy, specifically in the Sustainable Competitiveness Axis, which seeks to intervene in the strengthening of the economic, social and institutional factors that determine regional competitiveness, is for a 25-year term and at competitive interest rates. The loan was approved during the second CABEI Board of Directors meeting of the year, held in San José.