El Catey Airport, Samana / Update

happy to announce that i visited the construction site 2nd week of august and they are working very hard. i went through the very wide, back road that was carved out a couple of years ago and also the smaller road. there were at least 2 mega-project style dump trucks and 4 smaller dump trucks. from the back-end you can see the whole runway. the runway is 90% completely filled in to the smaller road and it is apprx 10' elevated from the ground. if memory serves correct, the distance from the larger road to the smaller road and slightly beyond where it is not yet filled in (i.e. the length of the runway) was 1.2 miles. they were working very hard by the looks of it and the workers that i spoke to have heard that management expects the airport to be ready by november 2005.

as well, about 2 miles down the highway towards nagua at the first curve north they are also carving out the santo domingo > samana highway. i have more faith in the airport being completed then the highway - especially since a portion of the airport tax is going towards completion of the airport.

let's cross our fingers and hope it happens.

from listin diario of sunday, sept 6th

http://www.listin.com.do/cuerpos/dinero/din7.htm

the guy in charge of Asonahores (hotel and restaurant association of dr) is saying that the samana area, as a touristic destination, is now waking up and that they fully support the private initiatives to complete El Catey Airport and the Samana>Santo Domingo Highway. i don't think that i have ever seen, heard or read of any such support in the past from this group. most of us in samana have felt that the government and the punta cana and puerto plata money was against samana progressing. i guess the new investment money in samana helps: aerodom, colombian company doing the highway, the french company who took over cayacoa. i never really understood the thinking behind government or other tourist destinations in the country blocking our progress - and whether true or not - it certainly feels like we have be sabotaged for many years. it's nice to see that this article comes from the government owned mouthpiece: listin diario, so i assume they support the idea. and why not? i don't see that success in samana will take any business away from puerto plata or punta cana. very different options for tourists in each area. in my opinion, and i assume the new government's opinion, it will simply bring more tourists to the country and just as importantly more money spent here - not to mention the entry/exit tourist taxes. let's keep our fingers crossed.