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Daily News - 6 February 2001
President Mejia's social compensation plan
President Hipolito Mejia announced last night his government's social compensation plan. He said the plan includes programs already being implemented and new ones that seek to neutralize what he called the transitory impact of the new taxes on prices, primarily affecting poor and middle class families. Some of the new measures will have immediate effects, others will be implemented throughout the course of the year.
The President said the plan has three parts: RD$10,000 million in programs already underway in 2001; the social security bill endorsed by his government; and new programs to lower the impact of the new taxes. President Mejia explained that he is urging Congress to pass the Social Security Bill as the later would expand social security coverage from 15% at present to 62% of the population in the next four years. In his talk, the President also urged the private sector to approve salary increases to benefit the working class.
The government paid the leading daily newspapers to publish three-page spreads of the pre-taped speech that aired last night at 9 pm. Highlights of the new social programs are the announcement of the reduction of the price of propane gas used for cooking to RD$8 the gallon, down from RD$19 and the start of a welfare system in the DR, with 300,000 beneficiaries of RD$300 a month.

As announced by the President, the program already included in the 2001 Government Program features the following:
1) Increase of 450,000 daily rations of the school breakfast program. This represents a 20% increase over the levels in 2000. 2) Distribution of 40,000 bicycles to students in lower income urban and rural areas.
3) 1,250 scholarships for teachers
4) Extension of the Program of Integral Education to benefit 20,000 children
5) New program that will provide medical assistance to 350,000 students, ages 5-10 in public schools. Program to be coordinated by the Ministry of Public Health.
6) Distribution of 200,000 uniforms to public school children.
7) Distribution of 6.5 million school books to public school students (target 1.5 million students).
8) Teaching 98,000 persons how to read and write.
9) Training of teachers and educational center directors reaching out to 25,000 persons.
10) Construction of 4,000 new classrooms and equipping of these.
11) Ministry of Public Health budgeted programs will reach out to 2.9 million persons. Vaccination programs will cover 1.2 children. Improved services for children, aging and handicapped programs. 12) Construction of 100 clinics for basic health needs in barrios and communities at a cost of RD$60 million.
13) Expansion of sales of basic medicines through government pharmacy program. Installation of an additional 1,000 pharmacies by the years end. At the start of the Mejia administration, the government operated 350 pharmacies.
14) Budgeted funds to build 60 new urban and rural aqueducts, and expand aqueducts already existent in 98 communities at a cost of RD$3,900 million. Construction of the Northwest aqueduct. 15) Repair of 40 gullies in Santo Domingo barrios at a cost of RD$325 million.
16) Start of construction and improvement of 50,000 housing units. 17) Signing of an agreement with private contractors for the construction of low cost housing. The state will contribute the land.
18) Direct assistance to 20,000 small and medium size farmers for planting of one million tareas.
19) Distribution of planting materials, seeds, tools and equipment to 130,000 farm producers. RD$300 million investment.
20) Credit to farmers for RD$3,200 million through the state Banco Agricola.
21) Inespre will set up 700 producer markets throughout the nation. Investment of RD$800 million to benefit 500,000 families.
22) Budgeted RD$450 million for improvement of rural roads.
23) Governmental subsidy to the cost of power of RD$4,000 million, or 6% of the national budget.
24) Promised abundant crops will start to enter the markets in March and April, bringing about a reduction in food prices.

New measures:
1) Alert to merchants that if within 10 days prices of basic food stuffs do not come down, the state will implement a Transitory Fund for the Stabilization of Funds (Fondo Transitorio de Estabilizacion de Precios) for RD$2,000 million, to be administered by INESPRE. He said the plan would be under the supervision of the Civic Society and the Executive Branch. He said he would appoint three Dominicans of reputed honesty to supervise the fund. The fund would purchase or import, if necessary, food products whose prices have suffered excessive cost increases. These will be sold at INSPRE points of sale. [INESPRE has traditionally been the focus of major governmental corruption.]
He also said he has given instructions to the Income Tax Director to inspect businesses and industries that have taken advantage of the tax reforms and increases prices above reasonable levels. 2) As of March, RD$400 million for a Family Microbusiness Program (Programa de Microempresas Familiares) to start in 2001. The program will focus on women that are head of households, handicapped and other vulnerable groups of the lower income brackets. The program seeks to generate 100,000 new jobs per year. A new Social Development Fund (Fondo de Desarrollo Social) will administer the funds which will be channeled through select non-governmental organizations.
3) Ministry of Environment Program for Job Creation and Forestry Development (Programa de Creacion de Empleos y Desarrollo Forestal). Creation of 25,000 jobs in rural areas. RD$300 million a year. 4) Program to Improve Neighborhoods (Programa de Mejoramiento de Barrios) to be implemented by Procomunidad, Direccion General de Desarrollo de la Comunidad and the Comision Presidencial de Apoyo al Desarrollo Barrial. The institutions will work with municipalities, neighborhood boards and civic society institutions. The RD$400 million allotment to the program will help finance repairs of dwellings, garbage collection, reconstruction of streets and gullies, potable water, sidewalks and other initiatives to improve life in the barrios.
5) Family Welfare Program (Programa de Subsidio Familiar). Identification of 300,000 lower income bracket families with children of school age that regularly attend public schools. These will receive a welfare card (Tarjeta de Ayuda Social), starting May 2001 with which they will be able to disburse from the Banco de Reservas RD$300 a month. This amount could increase and the number of beneficiaries be increased depending on the tax collection levels. RD$720 million.
6) Day Care Centers Program (Programa de Estancias Infantiles Comunitarias), located in poor areas, industrial, tourism and free zones. Strengthening of programs already underway as part of the Centers for Integral Attention to Children (Centros Infantiles de Atencion Integral). RD$380 million. Reaching out to 20,000 families. This program is supervised by National Children's Council (Consejo Nacional para la Niñez-Conani).
7) Program to facilitate integration of women to the work force, and assistance to teenage mothers in barrios and rural areas. This program will provide support during pregnancy and nutritional support after the birth to teenage mothers. RD$110 million. Under supervision of the Ministry of Women, Ministry of Public Health and Conani.
8) Program to assist families living in sugar cane communities, or bateyes. Improve dwellings, repair and expand aqueducts, build latrines, improve health services, create new job sources, short cycle planting and breeding of domestic animals. RD$200 million. 9) Sports programs for barrios. RD$60 million for communities for cultural, recreational and sports efforts.
10) OMSA buses will charge only RD$2 to all those that identify themselves as students with appropriate ID.
11) Reduction from RD$19 to RD$8 the price of propane gas. The Mejia administration had increased the cost of propane from RD$175 at the start of the government to RD$480. Reduction brings the new cost to RD$180 the 100 lb. tank. Announced elimination of the coupons system put in place earlier by the government.
President of Venezuela to visit in March
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has scheduled a trip to the DR for 9 March 2001. The Venezuelan statesman would visit for three days. As announced in the Listin Diario, the visit seeks to strengthen collaboration, trade and friendship ties between both nations.
During his visit to the DR, the Venezuelan statesman will inspect the site of the Plaza Bolivar that will honor the Liberator of Venezuela, Simon Bolivar. The plaza will feature a large statue of Bolivar and an amphitheater for the presentation of cultural events and concerts. The Plaza will go up at the central site where the former Centro Medico Dr. Yunen was located at Jose Contreras, Bolivar and Máximo Gómez avenues. According to the report in the Listin Diario, the lot was acquired by the state and donated for the construction.
Charity budget allotments given a go
The National Budget Office announced it will disburse the December allotment to private institutions that have not received their subsidies since November. The delays in payments affect several of the nation's most prestigious charity organizations. Luis Ernesto Perez Cuevas of the Budget Office said he authorized the payment of the December allotments. He said he will do so for January also as soon as the request is received from the Ministry of Public Health. He said his department has not been responsible for the delays in the disbursements. He attributed the problems to the technical and administrative bureaucracy of the Ministry of Public Health.
Haina-Duarte Highway link to be built
El Siglo reports that the government has restarted works on the Haina-Autopista Duarte Highway. The highway was begun during the past government but discontinued due to funding problems. The Expreso Haina-Cibao will reduce the number of tankers and large freighter trucks that circulate through the city of Santo Domingo as they make their way from the Port of Haina and the Shell Petroleum Refinery to northern cities.
The contract is under the Oficina de Ingenieros Supervisores de Obras del Estado. The expressway will link to the Duarte Highway at the Km. 15 point near Los Alcarrizos.
Sitting in the wrong place
A German tourist was mistakenly accused of having stolen about US$6,500 from a Dominican woman who sat next to him on a Condor flight from Germany to the DR. Irma Holguin, who investigators later ascertained had been drinking on the flight, mistakenly accused the German tourist who sat next to her on the flight. When the flight arrived, the lady got the chief of security of the airport to detain four buses of tourists to search for the German who sat next to her, whom she suspected of having stolen the money. Subsequent investigations by Colonel Miguel de los Santos Figueroa, chief of security at the Las Americas International, ascertained that a fellow Dominican traveler had stolen the money. The real thief was detained in La Vega, where he admitted to the theft. The Condor Airline agent in the DR, Udo Meyer lamented the mistake that he said could affect German travel to the DR. He criticized that local daily newspapers had sensationalized the story, prior to the completion of investigations.
Baby dies in slum barrack fire
A one-year and a half baby died in his crib when the barrack where he had been left in El Tamarindo neighborhood went up in blaze. Six adults suffered third degree burns. News reports say that 12 barracks, or 168 dwellings were destroyed in the fire. Some 800 families lost their shacks. The barracks are home for families that lost their dwellings during Hurricane George in 1998 and have not relocated.
News reports say that the mother of the baby had been away that day to visit her husband who reportedly is in the La Victoria jail. The grandmother of the baby says she was able to save the baby's seven-year-old sister. The mother, who is seven months pregnant, returned that evening to learn of the tragedy.
On the Pan Am Games
The Organizing Committee of the 2003 Pan American Games announced the start of the construction of the athletes' village on 20 February. The committee says that the Consorcio Panamericano, entrusted with the village, has committed to complete the apartment complex by 1 April 2003.
The committee also announced that lawyer Raul Barrientos will join as executive vice president. "I have the commitment from the President to work 24 hours a day, and I will come through," he said. He is expected to be the liaison of the committee with President Mejia.
The new members of the organizing committee are: Jorge Ivan Ramirez (president of Codetel), Jose de Jesus Vargas, engineer Manuel Troncoso Cuesta (Banco Nacional de la Vivienda), Jaime Dorlin, Alejandro Asmar Sanchez.
All teams tied in Caribbean Baseball Series
Dominicana defeated Puerto Rico yesterday 5-4 in the fourth game of the Caribbean Baseball Series. Mexico defeated Venezuela 8-4. This resulted in a quadruple tie amongst the four contenders for the Caribbean penchant. All four teams have won two games and lost two games.
The schedule of the games continues as follows:
Tuesday, 6 February, 7 pm: DR vs. Venezuela
Wednesday, 7 February, 10 pm: DR vs. Mexico
The games are being transmitted by Channel 7, Antena Latina.
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