June 2003, Roxana Salazar / The World Bank
There is a law (Law 8114 on Tax Efficiency) that requires the Central Government to provide a certain amount of funds directly to the Municipalities for road maintenance. The Municipalities in turn create Cantonal Transportation Boards responsible for making recommendations to the Municipal Councils regarding the use of funds allocated for maintaining, upgrading, repairing, and extending the road network in each canton. For impoverished rural communities in Costa Rica, the absence or poor quality of roads is a significant social risk factor.
The aim of this paper is to present how an important program is for its use to the participatory cantonal budget mechanism for local roads; to the design a model for training, implementation, and oversight of community public works; and to improve the efficient use of funds allocated for this purpose to maximize the impact in the highest risk sectors. The program is scheduled for implementation in three cantons during one year. The program, which was presented to the diverse actors, enjoys the full support of the institutions involved, technical entities, and of the target communities themselves, which have expressed their commitment to participating in the program. The plan is to consolidate the use of user-friendly indicators that reveal the actual impact of public works in important areas such as distributional significance, increased production, improved marketing processes, and efficiency of increased vehicle traffic.
