DR1 Daily News - Tuesday, 21 March 2017

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Efforts under way to double Dominican exports
Nobel Laureate promotes funds for entrepreneurs 
Canada to provide funds for Guajimia Water Sanitation Project
President Medina in Azua
Garbage system crisis in Santo Domingo
O Globo: Joao Santana received US$5 million from DR
More protests over Uber
Traffic accidents take the lives of thousands each year
Dominican Republic not very happy
Peralta allegedly offered chauffeur money to take blame for homicide
Woman on school run shot and killed in the National District



Efforts under way to double Dominican exports
The director of the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD), Luis Henry Molina, expects there soon will be the conditions for a boom in Dominican exports and investments. He said that recent studies published by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have shown the DR is lacking a comprehensive export and investment strategy. Molina said his department is working on a multi-sectorial approach so that the country can double its exports and attract more investments.

Much work is needed as the DR is lagging in exports. The reality is that the country has not taken advantage of trade agreements with the United States, Central America and Europe. Instead there has been a marked increase in imports from these markets without a concomitant spike in exports. 

For example, with the United States, the Dominican Republic has gone from having a trade surplus to maintaining a growing deficit with the US after signing the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement. The DR consistently had trade surpluses with the US until 2005. Since the start of the agreement in 2006, the DR has been suffering an ever-increasing trade deficit with the United States and Central America. Overall imports from the US have doubled. 

El Caribe reports that from 2001-2004, prior to the implementation of the treaty, the DR exported US$16.68 billion to the United States and imported US$9.6 billion. From 2005-2010, exports were US$20.07 billion, but imports increased to US$28.4 billion. From 2011 to 2015, exports experienced a slight increase to US$20.69 billion, and imports also increased slightly to US$28.9 billion. 

Read more in Spanish:
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/03/20/acumulo-con-los-deficit-17240mm
http://m.elcaribe.com.do/2017/03/19...lan-para-duplicar-triplicar-las-exportaciones


Nobel Laureate promotes funds for entrepreneurs 
Speaking during the Santo Domingo Hub fair (15-18 March 2017) organized by the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce, Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus urged governments to create new banking legislation to foster entrepreneurship among the young and the poor. 

“There are not enough jobs,” he said. Muhammad Yunus advocated that a fund be created so that youth can create their own businesses and not have to wait around to find a job. 

Yunus won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work in microcredit and microfinance, and his efforts to create economic and social development from the grassroots. In Bangladesh, he founded the Grameen Bank that granted loans to entrepreneurs that were too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. 


Canada to provide funds for Guajimia Water Sanitation Project
The Canadian government’s Canadian Commercial Corporation will be supporting Magil Construction Corporation for the implementation of the second phase of the Guajimia Water Sanitation Project in Santo Domingo under the Santo Domingo Water Corporation (CAASD). This projected investment is US$168,481,971. The Canadian Commercial Corporation is the Canadian government branch that facilitates international trade on behalf of Canadian industry, particularly within government markets.

The Guajimia project includes a wastewater treatment plant, storm sewers, sanitary sewers, potable water, construction of roads and green areas and apartment units. It was begun in 2005 with initial work carried out by the Canadian construction firm of Dessau Soprin Can-American Inc. 

CAASD director general, Alejandro Montas, said the Canadian government through the CCC has expressed its intention to go ahead with a second phase of the project that would include the storm and sanitary sewers and the construction of multi-family housing units for those living in the Guajimía, Buenos Aires, El Indio and La Ureña areas of Santo Domingo. 

The project encompasses the construction of 8.2 kilometers of canals to channel away storm water, the construction of 500 housing units and laying of 50.93 km of pipe for potable water and sewage. A water treatment plant would be built for residual waters for 300,000 inhabitants. 

Canadian Ambassador Steve Cote met with the director of CAASD Alejandro Montas to discuss the second phase of the project. Also participating in the meeting was the regional director for CCC, Luc Allary who presented executives of Magil Construction Corporation, the company that would be responsible for the second phase.


President Medina in Azua
On Sunday, 19 March 2017, President Danilo Medina headed the military and civic parade in Azua in commemoration of the 173rd anniversary of the Battle of the 19 March.  The event was attended by thousands of people.

The battle took place in 1844 and was the first won by Dominican patriots in the war to regain national sovereignty.

The parade lasted about an hour and included brigades of the Dominican Army, Armada and Air Force as well as the National and Tourist Police, and the Frontier Security Corps (Cesfront).

The President was accompanied by the Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramon Peralta; Defense Minister Ruben Paulino Sem, Minister of Interior and Police Carlos Amarante Baret, National Police head, Major General Nelson Peguero Paredes and Provincial Governor Walkiria Felix among others.

Read more in Spanish:
http://hoy.com.do/presidente-medina-encabeza-el-desfile-civico-militar-en-azua/


Garbage system crisis in Santo Domingo
Garbage collection trucks lined up all Sunday morning waiting to enter the Duquesa garbage dump. The same thing had happened the previous Friday before the arrival of the Minister of the Environment, Francisco Dominguez Brito, who threatened to militarize the garbage dump. Trucks have reportedly had to wait up to two hours to be able to return to collecting garbage.

The problem is especially grave in the National District as the transfer station is full and Mayor David Collado has warned about the environmental health dangers if the situation is not addressed. Collado highlighted the efforts his administration has made to clean up the city but that stressed that these efforts would all be in vain if this impasse involving the garbage dump is not resolved. 

Mayors of Greater Santo Domingo and the Lajun company, with the mediation of Environment Minister, Francisco Dominguez Brito, met on Monday, 20 March 2017, to try and reach agreement on the proposed increase of tariffs at the Duquesa dump. 

On the previous week Lajun had said they were looking for an increase in the price of the contracts of between 110 and 1,000 per cent, which was rejected by the mayors. The company has requested the payment of US$8.14 per ton of garbage. Lajun’s response was to restrict the hours to receive waste from 8 am to 5 pm and to close the facility on Saturdays and Sundays.

Following the meeting, Lajun Corporation said they would not implement the price increase but only on the condition that an independent international arbitrator be contracted to analyze what the price should be. Lajun proposed the hiring of Price Waterhouse Coopers to conduct a cost analysis and compare this with international standards in order to meet contractual conditions required by the municipalities and the Ministry of Public Health. 

The company said that if the analysis showed that Lajun’s prices were correct, the authorities would have to accept them, and if the analysis showed they should be less then Lajun would accept the decision. 

The company said they would now operate normally at the weekends and accused the truck drivers of blocking the entrance to the Duquesa dump to then blame the company for delaying the dumping of the wastes.

Read more in Spanish:
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...-para-determinar-precio-de-tonelada-de-basura
http://hoy.com.do/tapon-en-vertedero-duquesa-colapsa-sistema-de-aseo-gran-santo-domingo/
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...eterminar-precio-de-tonelada-basura-BM6619636


O Globo: Joao Santana received US$5 million from DR
7 Dias reports that the Shellbill Swiss bank account of Brazilian Joao Santana received 10 deposits of US$500,000 each in 2014, as reported in O’Globo, the Brazilian newspaper. Santana was sentenced to eight years in jail for money laundering as part of the Operation Car Wash. 

At the time of his arrest he was the electoral campaign strategist for the 2016 re-election campaign of President Danilo Medina. In the midst of the Medina re-election campaign in February 2016, he traveled from the DR to Brazil to face charges. The newspaper says the account also received funds from Brazil, Angola and Panama. 

President Danilo Medina has acknowledged making payments to Santana for his work in the electoral campaign. 

Read more:
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...a-recibio-millones-desde-dominicana-2014.html
http://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/joao-santana-recebeu-na-suica-dinheiro-de-outros-paises-21082969
http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/...ty-marketing-man-convicted-operation-car-wash


More protests over Uber
The National Organization of Transport Workers (CNTT) and the Cibao Taxi Federation (FETACI) carried out a large protest march against Uber in Santiago. The taxi drivers say Uber represents unfair competition.

Juan Marte, president of CNTT, headed the march that left from the monument area and marched to City Hall in Santiago where they handed over a document to Mayor Abel Martinez demanding that he take immediate action against Uber. The traditional taxi drivers say Uber has taken about 30% of their business away.

Marte also complained that Uber is offering motorcycle taxi service with Uber-Moto in Santiago. 

Marte said the taxi companies would need to drastically lower their rates and the services they offered in order to compete. Nevertheless, he said that the unions would continue to protest in a peaceful manner.

Read more in Spanish:
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...axistas-de-santiago-marchan-en-contra-de-uber


Traffic accidents take the lives of thousands each year
In the Dominican Republic there have been 44,912 traffic accidents between 2011 and 2016, costing the lives of 11,417 people. 

The data is contained in a report on the Indicators of Road Accidents 2016 carried out by the Observatory of Data on Road Safety, headed by engineer Mario Holguin. 

The report is only preliminary so there may be variations in the statistics presented. In the cited period, there were 61,434 accident victims with 50,017 being injured.

Last year, 2016, there were 2,122 deaths, higher than 2015 when there were 1,946 - making the country still the most lethal country in the world for road traffic accidents with a mortality rate of 43.82 per 100,000 population. The social cost of these accidents and deaths is also high, with the state having to pay out RD$166,000 million in 2016 alone.  This investment is expected to increase unless integral road safety plans are implemented. 

Read more in Spanish:
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...eron-in-situ-tras-sufrir-accidentes-YE6611346


Dominican Republic not very happy
According to the World Happiness Report 2017, the happiest country in the region is Costa Rica, in eleventh place in the world. Norway is the happiest place on earth.

The report was published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of the United Nations on occasion International Happiness Day on 20 March 2017.

The writers of the report analyzed the level of happiness in the 155 participating countries using several indicators including the political system, resources, corruption, education and the health system. Data from 2014 to 2016 was used.

The conclusions showed that Costa Rica was the happiest in Latin America in 11th place followed by Chile (20), Brazil (22), Argentina (24) Mexico (25), Uruguay (28), Guatemala (29) and Panama (30).

Further down the table were Colombia (36), Nicaragua (43), Ecuador (44), El Salvador (45), Bolivia (58), Peru (63) and Paraguay (70).

Bringing up the rear were Venezuela (82), Dominican Republic (86) and Honduras (91).

The report is the fifth to come out since 2012 and continues to gain global recognition as governments, organizations and civil society increasingly use happiness indicators to inform their policy-making decisions. 

Read more:
http://worldhappiness.report/
http://www.listindiario.com/las-mun...ces-de-la-region-y-costa-rica-es-el-mas-feliz


Peralta allegedly offered chauffeur money to take blame for homicide
José Parra, lawyer for the family of murdered former rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) Mateo Aquino Febrillet, has said that union head Blas Peralta, supposedly offered RD$16 million to his chauffer, Franklin Venegas Rivas, to take the blame for the murder.

He said that the chauffer has refused the money since he has an orphaned teenage daughter, whom he would have to abandon to serve time in jail. 

Parra went on to say that it is presumed that Peralta was the one who shot Febrillet and then washed himself in oil to destroy the evidence.

However, the lawyer for Peralta, Francisco Taveras, says there is not sufficient proof to convict Peralta since the prosecutors cannot show that it was he who pulled the trigger. 

Venegas Rivas is still in a holding cell at the Justice Palace after having been taken there from his normal jail cell.

Read more in Spanish:
http://eldia.com.do/blas-peralta-ha...chofer-para-culparse-por-muerte-de-febrillet/
http://elnacional.com.do/abogado-fa...m-a-su-chofer-para-que-se-atribuya-el-crimen/


Woman on school run shot and killed in the National District
On the morning of Monday 20 March 2017, a woman was killed early in the morning in an incident on Francisco Prats Ramirez Street in Evaristo Morales in the National District. 

Delcy Miguelina Concepción Yapor, wife of Deacon Leandro Acosta of the Catholic parish El Buen Pastor, was driving children to school in a Nissan van she used to earn a living. She was struck in the chest by the bullet and died at the scene. 

A surveillance video shows a passing motorcycle with two passengers zoom by her van, shortly after the car would stop. 

In a press conference on Monday evening, Police spokesman Nelson Rosario said that Franklin Padilla Núñez, a former corporal of the Dominican Air Force, was arrested as the man who fired the shot that killed the woman. Padilla admitted to firing the shot from his Glock ,40 caliber pistol at two motorized individuals who moments before had stolen the handbag of a young woman, never imagining it could reach anyone else. 

Read more in Spanish:
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...s-mataron-mujer-trasladaba-ninos-colegio.html
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...ra-a-asesinos-de-senora-delcy-yapor-BD6621355
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/03/...cuentes-matan-mujer-que-llevaba-ninos-colegio
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...r-del-disparo-que-mato-a-delcy-miguelina-yapo


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