ICE Elevator Error Costly

A design error in the construction of four elevators near the ICE (state-owned power & light company) headquarters will cost $2 million to correct. The new tower was bought by ICE for $50 million.

The 16-floor tower just off Sabana Park in downtown San Jose houses 1,282 workers and lines waiting for the existing elevators cost workers a half an hour wait during peak hours.

Originally, the building contained only four elevators (one an outside panoramic model that must be reinstalled) and the deficiency has caused some workers to be relocated, some doing computer work at home as well as juggling work hours.

 So, four additional elevators were envisioned and contracted. Unfortunately, the new ones did not meet engineering specifications that required them to carry 12% of the building's workers in a lapse of five minutes.

Workers' unions repeatedly drew attention to the deficiency of the elevators, bringing into question the contract process. The decision to forge ahead with the plan came from then-ICE president Eduardo Doryan on June 15, 2010.

(Doryan resigned from ICE this year to defend himself against severe criticism of the handling of his previous post as head of the cash-strapped universal health care system. See previous stories. He was replaced by veteran ICE executive Teofilo de la Torre, formerly the Minister of the Envrionment.)

The new elevators are financed by a Banco de Costa Rica development fund and the November, 2010 contract between ICE and BCR specifically excluded cash penalties for defects in design or construction.

This novel contract reached the ears of lawmakers and one opposition deputy, Luis Fishman of the Social Christian Unity party, requested an investigation by the Comptroller General's Office, a legal-budgetary watchdog agency.

A top BCR official told the leading newspaper La Nacion that delays in forming the contract were holding up beginning of construction which would then not be complete for from 12 to 14 months.