By Wendy Anders

Visitors to the bustling Central Pacific tourist hotspot of Jacó will be able to walk partially along the beach on the planned municipal seaside boulevard.

The boulevard was halted in mid-construction in February after the country’s environmental secretariat was granted a court injunction against the project.

The Administrative Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in Goicoechea ordered the Municipality of Garabito to stop the construction of the pedestrian walkway running along Jacó’s beach because the local government lacks environmental feasibility permits from the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (SETENA) for the project.

The boulevard project has an estimated final cost of over US$220K, said Walter Brenes, a lawyer with Energy Law Firm, who filed for the injunction.

Because the infrastructure is being built in the maritime zone, the court said the municipality was required to have environmental feasibility permits to assess the potential impacts of the project on the coastal ecosystem, according to court document #15-001381-1027-CA.

The court ordered a 9-month injunction in February, however the municipality continued to build the walkway, and in a public hearing on March 16, Judge Sady Jimenez concluded that the local government “had breached the injunction.”

The municipality was warned they would be fined if they continued to work while the injunction was in place, and Brenes added that the Jacó mayor could have his credentials removed if the court orders are disobeyed again.