Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

Daily News - 11 May 2000
New site for Pan Am Games Olympic village
President Leonel Fernández announced yesterday that the Santo Domingo 2003 Pan American Games Olympic Village will be built on the grounds of the Santo Domingo Cyberpark, along the Las Americas Expressway. He also announced that the additional sports facilities needed for the Pan Am Games will go up on grounds that are adjacent to the V Centenario Racetrack.
Hoy newspaper reports that the Dominican government has discarded the 31,000 square meter lot diagonally across from the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, site of most of the Pan Am Games competitions. The new site has significant advantages over the old site:
10 minutes away from Las Americas International Airport, port of entry for those coming for the Games.
15 minutes away from the Boca Chica site of sailing and other water sports events.
The site is connected to Santo Domingo by a modern expressway, thus athletes staying at the Las Americas village could be transported to the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center in about 15 minutes. Furthermore, the extensive area will permit much more comfortable sports and lodging complex. The village will take nine months less to build and will cost less as the project to build 23-floor luxury towers has been replaced by the plan to build modest housing and low-rise apartments.
President Leonel Fernández announced that construction of the village will start 1 August.
The Santo Domingo Cyberpark has been one of the projects most promoted by President Fernández himself. It features the construction of an institute of technology as well as high tech industrial plants.
The government thus agrees with engineers and architects that had argued that the previously chosen site across from the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, was not a good option for the village. The construction of the village had been opposed on grounds that the proposed deluxe towers would not find buyers due to difficulties for parking, view of slum areas from the northern side, and the general urban chaos the 700 apartments would bring to the area. The government said that the village will have Spanish financing, and that it will be built by OHL of Spain, that reportedly built the Barcelona Olympics village.
At the same time, the government announced the Olympic Village will be complemented by the construction, less than seven minutes away from the new village site, in an area near the V Centenario Race Track (Km. 14) of sports facilities that are needed for the 2003 Games. This relieves the congestioning of city streets during the Games and prevents the saturating the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center. The lot near the racetrack is large enough to permit the construction of facilities for 14 sports, including karate, tae kwon do, badminton, tennis, skeet, shooting, ping pong, horseback riding and other competitions. These facilities will go up with Venezuelan funding.
Hoy newspaper reports a company called Pompeya, S.A. paid RD$370 million to Corde, the Dominican State enterprise holding company that owned the lot, for the purchase of the 31,000 square meter lot on John F. Kennedy Avenue. The Banco Popular Dominicano, whose headquarters are across from the lot, financed the operation. The Listin Diario reports that its sources indicate that Carrefour, the French-Martinique company that recently opened a giant supermarket at Km. 9 of Duarte Highway, will build a second mega supermarket on the lot.
Eduardo Selman of Corde said that the purchase had not been made public because the government wanted to communicate the decision first to the Pan American Sports Organization authorities.
President Leonel Fernández himself called Mario Vasquez Raña of ODEPA yesterday to communicate the decision and give him an update of government efforts for the games. The decision will be formally presented to the 42 member nations of ODEPA during the assembly scheduled for 23 May in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Corde director says Dominicana Airlines will be privatized on 23 May
Eduardo Selman announced the capitalization of Dominicana Airlines, the state airline, will take place 23 May. He said that the winner of the tender will have to absorb US$4 million in debt accumulated by the bankrupt entity. The main asset of the grounded state airline is its routes.
Alex Santana to head Aerodom operations
Aerodom, the management company of the Puerto Plata and Las Americas international airports, announced the appointment of Alex Santana as executive director of that organization. Santana was regional director of Continental Airlines at the time of the appointment.
NAFTA-parity could be effective 1 October 2000
The executive director of the Dominican Association of Free Zones, Jose Manuel Torres said that President Bill Clinton could sign the CBI Enhancement Bill on 22 May. The bill is expected to be passed this week by the US Congress. The textile parity bill would be effective 1 October. It would have a duration of eight years, that is through 30 September 2008. The DR would be one of the leading beneficiaries of the bill that eliminates export quotas.
UN representative in DR praises DR intellectual property efforts
The Listin Diario reports that the representative of the United Nations in the Dominican Republic Paolo Oberti does not feel the US Department of Commerce will sanction the DR for violation of intellectual property rights because of the efforts made to combat intellectual piracy.
394,327 persons have been assigned new voting stations
The Listin Diario reports that a Price WaterhouseCoopers audit to the JCE list of voters shows there are 23,216 duplicated voting cards, 394,327 persons that voted in 1998 election will not voting in this election, 81,742 photos are not featured in the voting list, 356,892 persons have been changed from their voting stations, and 10,497 have a different photo on the voting list than that featured on their cedula. The population is being urged to check by any of the JCE hotlines or by the www.jce.do web page to confirm their voting station prior to the election day. The Price WaterhouseCoopers audit was carried out with data cut to 15 April 2000.
JCE resolution seeks to reduce number of observed votes
The Junta Central Electoral resolved to allow citizens whose photo on their electoral card does not coincide with the photo on the voting list to vote normally, if certain conditions are fulfilled. According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit, more than 80,000 persons are affected by this situation.
The citizen's data must coincide with the data on the voting list, and they must be recognized unanimously by the president, secretary and members of the electoral college where they are assigned to vote. These citizens will also be required to present another official ID document with their photograph (such as passport, driver's license, credit card with photo, or ID of a recognized organization). A member of the table can still object the vote of the citizen. If the above conditions are not met, the person will be allowed to cast"observed" votes. Traditionally, observed votes are rarely counted.
JCE to control news on elections on TV and radio
The Junta Central Electoral, according to a report in the Listín Diario, says that news programs, information and electoral reports 24 hours before, on election day, and 24 hours after election day are exclusively to come from the JCE. The JCE is the only organization able to transmit news on the election, it ruled.
US Ambassador to be election observer
US Ambassador Charles Manatt has requested observer status from the Junta Central Electoral. He will be accredited as an international observer for the presidential election that will take place this coming Tuesday, 16 May. The US had requested observer status for two persons.
New telephone number for Netherlands Consulate
The Consulate General of the Netherlands in the DR announced that its new telephone number is 809 262-0300, Fax 809 565-4685 and email c.paisesbajos@codetel.net.do
The consulate is located at Calle Mayor Piloto Enrique Valverde, Edif. Dr. Octavio Ramirez Duval, Third Floor, Ens. Miraflores, Santo Domingo, R.D. It is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 12 noon.
Dominicans not respecting overpass and tunnel rules
Hoy newspaper carries a story today highlighting how there is little respect for regulations for the use of tunnels and the new overpasses that have been opened in Santo Domingo. The overpasses and tunnels are off limits for pedestrians, horse-driven buggies, motorcyclists and cyclists but these use them anyway. The newspaper says that the signs to this end have not been placed on the new 27 de Febrero Expressway overpasses. Nevertheless, signs have not been an impediment for banned traffic, including trucks and urban transport buses, to use the tunnels.
Los Toros Band at the National Theater
"El Merengue se Viste de Gala" is the name of the show Hector Acosta and his Los Toros Band will be presented at the National Theater of Santo Domingo. The Santo Domingo Philharmonic Orchestra in the 12-13 May presentations will accompany him. Joseito Mateo, Jose el Calvo, el Cieguito de Nagua and Miriam Cruz will be guest performers in the show. Amaury Sanchez is the director of the presentation. Los Toros Band leader, Hector Acosta said that this presentation is one of the biggest challenges his group has ever faced.
Learn to make paper airplanes
Thesaurus Book Store, located at Sarasota with Abraham Lincoln, is offering an origami workshop with Tío José (Jose Rafael Sosa) on Saturday, 13 May at 5 pm. This is an excellent afternoon activity for parents and children. Those attending will be taught how to make paper airplanes. For more information, call Tel. 508-1114. Or email thesaurus@codetel.net.do
Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008.  DR1. All Rights Reserved.