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Daily News - 15 March 2001
Voting system to give more power to the people
The Junta Central Electoral, the government body in charge of organizing presidential, congressional and municipal elections, says the main parties agree on the changes in the voting ballot that would give more power to the people. The Junta announced that the parties favor a ballot that would permit voters to choose a senator from one party, and a deputy from another. The new ballots would also allow voters to elect a mayor from one party, and aldermen from another.
El Caribe newspaper reports that this reduces the dominance of the political parties, transferring power to the people. The new system allows for closed and unblocked lists of candidates. Up until now, the parties chose the candidate lists. Those listed at the top were the ones to be elected, depending on the number of total votes the party received. This caused tension within the parties, as aspirants to posts struggled to be listed at the top.
The JCE says they expect the new system to be implemented in the 2002 congressional and municipal election.
Automated civil registries
The Junta Central Electoral also announced that it is ready to start the computerizing of the civil registries of the nation. The JCE will choose one of 11 civil registries in Santo Domingo (Oficialias Civiles) for a pilot program. The automating of the civil registries will make it possible for persons that were registered in one city to retrieve copies of their birth, marriage and divorce certificates in another city.
Henry Lizardo, head of information systems at the JCE, said that the system should be operating nationwide by the end of 2002.
President Mejia halts planned hotel development in two parks
President Hipolito Mejia sent a letter to the Senate yesterday asking for time to carry out studies into the ownership of property that is part of two national parks and that he had segregated to allow hotel development. The ownership of the properties is being debated by interested parties in the courts.
In a letter to the president of the Senate, Ramon Alburquerque, the President asks that the Senate put aside the bills that affect the national parks of Cabo Cabron in Samana and Del Este in La Altagracia province.
Furthermore, in the letter the President justifies the decree that declares land within the Jaragua Natinal Park of public utility, saying his intention was "to accelerate the process of use of lands that have high tourism development potential." The Presidential decrees and bills regarding the use of national park land for tourism and sports development have met with widespread opposition.
Finally, the President says that he favors a "calm revision" of the Environment Law that he himself passed on 18 August 2000, particularly the Article 34, Chapter III that establishes that this law and the system of protected areas it encompasses cannot be modified until Congress passes the Sectarian Bill for Protected Areas. This bill is still being drafted. The President said it would soon be sent to Congress.
President of the Senate forecasts economic recovery in April
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday, the President of the Senate Ramon Alburquerque admitted that travel, banking, real estate, and even fuel sales have been affected by the slowdown of the economy due to the burden of new taxes in effect since January 2001. He said the economy has cringed under the uncertainty created as per the first weeks of the fiscal and economic reform measures.
But he said he trusts that no latter than within another month the economy will begin to recover after the Legislative Branch passes the Social Security Bill, Monetary and Financial Code, the Electricity Bill, and the Free Trade Agreement with Central America.
"I think in another month all will be over, and the economy will be relaunched because what this was done to reduce the structural costs of the economy," he said.
The impact of the new taxes was greater because the DR economy was already hurting from the effects of higher petroleum prices, and a slowdown in the US economy.
US economy slowdown could be good news for hotels
The president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, Ramon Prieto says that the slowdown of the US economy could turn into good news for the DR hotel industry.
He said that if the US suffers from a recession, Americans will begin to cut down on travel, and will prefer shorter vacations and destinations that are closer to home, such as the DR.
"In case that happens, we could take advantage of the situation because we are near to the US and we are a low-cost destination," said Prieto.
Prieto urged the start of an intense promotional campaign to promote value-packed vacations to this market that will be demanding lower cost travel products.
He spoke during a press conference to announce the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE), a marketplace to sell travel to the DR to US travel re-sellers. DATE will be held 29-31 March at Casa de Campo, La Romana.
IMF praises management of economy, but urges government reduce its own spending
The International Monetary Fund has issued a report where it praises the Dominican monetary authorities for the solid performance of the economy in recent years. It backs the new authorities ambitious fiscal adjustments planned for 2001 to support the envisaged international reserve buildup. The IMF also has praise for the new hydrocarbon law and the increase in the value-added tax, measures that are seen as adequate to secure financing for social expenditures and basic infrastructure while maintaining macroeconomic stability.
But at the same time, the IMF urges the adequate expenditure monitoring and control mechanisms to ensure that the budget's expenditure targets are not surpassed. Authorities are encouraged to conduct a thorough review of public expenditure in order to promote expenditure rationalization, to heighten the quality of social outlays, and to help control overall expenditure. The IMF also notes that publishing full information on how tax revenues are spent is key to improving governance.
The IMF wants Congress to approve a new version of the Monetary and Financial Code to give full independence to the Central Bank. The IMF encourages monetary authorities to continue to move toward a more flexible exchange rate policy and welcomed the authorities' commitment to reduce the foreign exchange commission during 2001.
The IMF mentions the need for enhancing competition in the power sector and establishing, as soon as possible, an adequate legal and regulatory framework for this sector of the economy.
For details of the report, see http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2001/pn0124.htm
Government overspending on personnel?
The Listin Diario main headline today points out that the Banco de Reservas, the government commercial bank that handles most government banking transactions, has had to assist the government in January and February with RD$1,500 million. The newspaper reports that the Banco de Reservas has had to finance the deficit that is attributed to an increase in public expenditures, primarily to meet an increase in the government payroll.
Non official figures indicate that the government had projected to spend 66% of the budget for current expenditures, but has had to disburse 72%, primarily to meet payroll expenditures at three major government institutions. The newspaper mentions the situation had been under control during the first five months of the Mejia administration, from August to December.
Legalizing the status of residents in 44 barrios
The deputies have passed a bill that would declare 44 Santo Domingo city low-income barrios as public utility land. The idea is to grant property titles to families that have years living in their dwellings. This would benefit owners of dwellings that were built before 1996 on land of no more than 300 square meters. The bill also establishes that the government would compensate the original owners of the property that was taken over to build the barrios. The barrios that would benefit include: Sabana Perdida, Villa Mella, Los Alcarrizos, Las Cañitas, 24 de Abril, Simon Bolivar, Gualey, Los Guandules, Guachupita, Capotillo, El Almirante, Hainamosa, El Tamarindo, Cancino, Invivienda, Villa Duarte, Maquiteria, Los Mameyes, Villa Carmen, Los Frailes, Reparto Isabelita, Villa Faro, Vecinos Unidos, La Esperanza, Mirador Ozama, Los Tres Brazos, Mil Flores, La Zurza, Enriquillo, Las Caobas, and Cristo Rey.
Congress could award Higuero airport to Aerodom
Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas Maldonado told Hoy newspaper that the government is sending to Congress an addendum to the Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI contract to include another airport in Santo Domingo and another in Samana.
Vargas said the government has concluded negotiations with Aerodom for the later to finish and operate the Aeropuerto la Isabela in El Higuero, north of Santo Domingo. Aerodom has the concession for the operation of Las Americas (Santo Domingo), Gregorio Luperon (Puerto Plata), Arroyo Barril (Samana) and Maria Montez (Barahona) airports.
Aerodom wants to invest in building an airport in El Catey west of Samana rather than making investments in the Arroyo Barril terminal, as per their original contract.
Acting to avoid entrance of foot and mouth disease
Sanitary authorities announced the reinforcing of the sanitary alert at ports and airports to avoid the entrance of the foot-and-mouth disease. The virus has spread to the Middle East and to Argentina. The UN is warning of a global threat from the disease and that no country could consider itself safe from the risk.
The director of Cattleranching of the Ministry of Agriculture said that meat imports from everywhere but the United States have been banned.
For more information on the virus and whom it affects, see
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/02/21/foot.mouth/index.html
Swedish firm opens regional branch in Santo Domingo
Leading Swedish banking consultants, Conceptor International Consulting AB announced the opening of a regional office in Santo Domingo. Aventis, a local consultant firm, will be representing the firm in the DR and for the Caribbean region. Conceptor has been working with the Dominican financial sector since 1995 when it began consulting with the Central Bank. Management training programs implemented were so successful, what was initially a local program turned regional with the participation of 14 regional countries.
Virginia Hernandez and Olga Diaz (hermes@aacr.net, Tel. 809 540-9020), both former Central Bank officers, are the new Dominican partners as the company seeks to expand its successful experience working with the Dominican market. In a company presentation which took place at the Salon Americo Lugo of the Central Bank, Virginia Hernandez urged banking to turn proactive and not reactive to changes. While most banking institutions continue to operate as before, traditional banking is condemned to disappear with radical change ahead, she alerted. She stressed the forces of change (technology, competition, clients and markets, regulations and the regulatory structure of the business) will alter the way of operating. Thus the importance of anticipating the changes. Per-Erik Berglund, New York-based partner of the firm, says the company wants to share the Swedish experience with financial deregulation and new technologies with Dominican companies, so the latter can be better prepared for the changes.
In addition to the areas of banking and finance, Aventis/Conceptor seeks to share their experience in foreign investment, national accounts and statistics, information technology, tourism and human resources.
The strength of the company is in combining simulation and training exercises with consulting on management development, strategic development, human resources development, and information technology strategies.
No more part time jobs at Pan Am Organizing Committee
The president of the Organizing Committee of the Santo Domingo 2003 Pan American Games says that as the committee gets into full swing only full time employees will remain on the payroll. News reports say that the Organizing Committee payroll is of more than RD$700,000 a month, of which most are part time employees. Jose Joaquin Puello said that only those that can put in minimum eight-hour shifts will remain as there is too much work to be done.
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