Most damning article I have read on the total cost.
Santo Domingo.- The subsidy for the Santo Domingo Metro project, once in operation, would be at RD$3.2 billion per year, according to estimations by geologist Osiris de Leon.
The coordinator of the Dominican Republic Natural Science and Environment Commission said that this subsidy for the Metro, in addition to the funding assistance necessary for providing the project with energy, will hold the Dominican economy in a state of bankruptcy.
He affirmed that for each passenger, thirty five net pesos would be required, and that daily, the subsidy could reach RD$8.75 million.
He indicated that Metro promoters did not calculate that this would be the one most expensive project during the past one hundred years while contributing with least number of benefits per each peso invested, in addition to hefty subsidy.
De Leon made his observations during a conference he disserted at State University (UASD) entitled ?The Santo Domingo Metro and its economic, social and environmental impacts?.
He stated that the Metro strongly impacts the economy, because it has spent RD$6 billion and at the end, it will cost RD$55 billion.
It is his understanding that the 14.2 kilometers will barely transport 1% of the national population, while the remaining 99% will pay for a service that they will never use.
He reiterated that the Metro was initiated without studies, without planning, without budgets, without designs and the necessary environmental evaluation.
De Leon said that, for the Metro, all studies were skipped for lack of time and for fear that results concluded in discarding the project from the techno-economic standpoint.
According to the expert, this lack of pertinent studies has caused the project to stumble with grave technical difficulties that have had to be resolved with huge surplus costs, such as addition of thousands of unforeseen pillars, that have cost over RD$500 million at the stretch in Villa Mella.
He stated that, by virtue of funds assigned for capital expenditures, the Metro is more important for the government than food, education and health for the population and a priority beyond environmental considerations.
De Leon said that, during the past month of December, the Executive Power regularized the overdrafts on account of the Metro as of June 2006, by asking from the Congress a transfer of RD$1.1 billion from the Education and Public Health Ministries for the train project.
In his view, extraordinary social impacts of the Metro include, among other, that homes and building structures in the neighborhood of the excavations suffer cracks on floors and walls, aside from impeding free access of neighbors, plus loss of value that nearby homes and buildings.
He considered that risks are considerable, given that the tunnel is built on unsteady grounds.
In De Leon?s view, it is impossible that the Metro transport 250,000 persons per day, as claimed by authorities.
The Transportation Reordering Office (OPRET) has beforehand acknowledged the Metro?s inefficiency, when OPRET announced that some 140 kilometers of bus routes will be required to access the train.
De Leon considered that the country is called on to develop with construction projects, but that development should never be an excuse for undertaking projects without the necessary study and without following a scheme of priorities.
He believes that the Metro is a rushed option that was not planned, adopted unilaterally by the government, without consulting society.
Santo Domingo.- The subsidy for the Santo Domingo Metro project, once in operation, would be at RD$3.2 billion per year, according to estimations by geologist Osiris de Leon.
The coordinator of the Dominican Republic Natural Science and Environment Commission said that this subsidy for the Metro, in addition to the funding assistance necessary for providing the project with energy, will hold the Dominican economy in a state of bankruptcy.
He affirmed that for each passenger, thirty five net pesos would be required, and that daily, the subsidy could reach RD$8.75 million.
He indicated that Metro promoters did not calculate that this would be the one most expensive project during the past one hundred years while contributing with least number of benefits per each peso invested, in addition to hefty subsidy.
De Leon made his observations during a conference he disserted at State University (UASD) entitled ?The Santo Domingo Metro and its economic, social and environmental impacts?.
He stated that the Metro strongly impacts the economy, because it has spent RD$6 billion and at the end, it will cost RD$55 billion.
It is his understanding that the 14.2 kilometers will barely transport 1% of the national population, while the remaining 99% will pay for a service that they will never use.
He reiterated that the Metro was initiated without studies, without planning, without budgets, without designs and the necessary environmental evaluation.
De Leon said that, for the Metro, all studies were skipped for lack of time and for fear that results concluded in discarding the project from the techno-economic standpoint.
According to the expert, this lack of pertinent studies has caused the project to stumble with grave technical difficulties that have had to be resolved with huge surplus costs, such as addition of thousands of unforeseen pillars, that have cost over RD$500 million at the stretch in Villa Mella.
He stated that, by virtue of funds assigned for capital expenditures, the Metro is more important for the government than food, education and health for the population and a priority beyond environmental considerations.
De Leon said that, during the past month of December, the Executive Power regularized the overdrafts on account of the Metro as of June 2006, by asking from the Congress a transfer of RD$1.1 billion from the Education and Public Health Ministries for the train project.
In his view, extraordinary social impacts of the Metro include, among other, that homes and building structures in the neighborhood of the excavations suffer cracks on floors and walls, aside from impeding free access of neighbors, plus loss of value that nearby homes and buildings.
He considered that risks are considerable, given that the tunnel is built on unsteady grounds.
In De Leon?s view, it is impossible that the Metro transport 250,000 persons per day, as claimed by authorities.
The Transportation Reordering Office (OPRET) has beforehand acknowledged the Metro?s inefficiency, when OPRET announced that some 140 kilometers of bus routes will be required to access the train.
De Leon considered that the country is called on to develop with construction projects, but that development should never be an excuse for undertaking projects without the necessary study and without following a scheme of priorities.
He believes that the Metro is a rushed option that was not planned, adopted unilaterally by the government, without consulting society.
