Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On February 24, 2022, Chinese and Costa Rican officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), which committed a donation of six Higer Pure electric buses to Costa Rica worth USD 1.341 million. On January 17, 2024, the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) received the Higer electric buses at their campus in Colima de Tibás. Present were Marco Acuña, president of ICE; Chinese Ambassador Tang; Stephan Brunner, vice president of the Republic; Alejandro Solano, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religion, and Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy, as well as the ICE Management Body. The Higer Pure electric buses have a 350 kWh battery capacity and have 98% less emissions as compared to diesel buses. The parties cited their aim to explore sustainable transportation models, initially serving rural and worker transportation segments. The donation supports Costa Rica's National Decarbonization Plan that seeks to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the country by 2050.
Staff comments
1. Photos of the buses show the buses have the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) "China Aid" logo printed on them, indicating the agency that actually funded this donation may have been CIDCA. This issue warrants further investigation. 2. The Spanish language title of this project, at the time of the signing of the MOU, was 'Donación buses eléctricos por parte del gobierno de China al Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía de Costa Rica'