Costa Rica's government is planning to kick off three highway construction projects totaling US$340mn in an effort to boost the economy.

The government plans to publish tender documents over the next few days for construction of the 28km Chilamate-Vuelta de Kooper highway and expansion of the highway stretch between Cañas and Liberia in Guanacaste province.

The two projects will require an investment of US$200mn, a government release said. Latin American Development Bank CAF approved a US$58.8mn loan in April 2009 to partially finance the Chilamate-Vuelta de Kooper project.

The government will also kick off construction work on the San José-San Carlos highway once the project is approved by the comptroller general. Congress has approved US$140mn from the national budget to cover the cost of the project, the release said.