They finally demolished the boundary wall of the current municipal cemetery, thus initiating the long awaited technical closure.

The municipal engineering department is in charge of the work and confirmed that it is currently in the stage of lifting the retaining walls.

According to Jiménez Cesia, engineering department official, the work does not affect the operation of the cemetery so that in the case of a funeral, it can be carried out normally as well as visits to the graves.

Since last year the municipality had received the technical closure order twice by the Ministry of Health because the current cemetery does not meet minimum requirements, such as the distance that must exist between the graves, as these can not be less than three meters from the property line.

The total cost of the work amounted to 100 million colones. Upon the completion of the technical closure process, and with the approval of the Ministry of Health, they will be able to start with the construction of the new cemetery.

The property that the municipality is trying to buy is registered on the survey map as G-1467747-2010 and is recorded under the name of Mario Rojas Huertas. It’s located in the village of Las Brisas del Cerro in Nicoya and covers an area of ??three hectares.

Noldan Piñar, representative of a group of residents in Las Brisas del Cerro, explained that they are opposed to the purchase of the lot because they do not have any technical study to ensure the suitability and quality of the land for construction.

“In the winter season, on that property, there are great torrents of water coming down from the La Cruz hill. It all wells up and the water does not circulate,” he assured.

In February of this year Piñar filed a motion to appeal in subsidy to the Municipal Counsel and the Civil Finance and Administrative Contentious Court, against the decision of the Council to continue with the purchase. The appeal requested that the Municipal Council annuls the agreement, that Mario Rojas present the environmental technical requirements and that the municipality submit the land purchase to a public bidding process.

However, Santos Juarez, coordinator of the Pro-Cemetery committee, said that Rojas presented all required documentation, including environmental studies, and is currently awaiting assessment of the property by Direct Taxation in order to buy the land where the new cemetery would be located.

Luis Antonio Aiza, PLN deputy, confirmed this information and said that 250 million colones ($500,000) have already been approved for the purchase of land via a Banco Popular loan, and for two months they have been looking for Taxation to do the evaluation in order to have the official assessment of the entire property.

“Taxation tells us that those conducting the assessment are officials working in Puntarenas and are overworked and therefore have not been there yet. I think the project is going forward because the property has all of the permits and has the endorsement of SETENA”, said Aiza.

Juarez said that once the appraisal is ready they will proceed to send the documentation to the Comptroller to make the purchase. “I reckon we’re 90% complete with the process. What remains is sending that document,” he affirmed.

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