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Daily News - 11 April 2001
DR1 takes a break
The Dominican Republic One Daily News Service will not publish updates on Thursday, 12 April nor Friday, 13 April due to the Easter Week holiday. All news through to Monday will be compiled in the Monday, 16 April edition.
Easter Week preparations
The Ministry of Public Works announced the closing of 43 accesses or left turns on Las Americas Highway from Juan Pablo Duarte Bridge to the Boca Chica rotunda. With the exception of authorized food and fuel transport trucks, all heavy trucks are banned from the streets from Thursday to Sunday. To ease the flow of thousands of vacationers who will travel to and from resort destinations, the government announced there will be no charge at tollbooths from Thursday, 3 to 6 pm, and Sunday from 6 am to 10 pm.
Special contigents of the police, firemen, Red Cross, Civil Defense, and the Public Health Ministry will be on duty over the long holiday weekend.
The Easter long weekend marks the start of the beach-going season for Dominicans. Traditionally during this holiday, Dominicans make up half of the guests lodged at resorts throughout the country. Full houses are expected at most Dominican resorts.
Those traveling domestically should avoid the highways on Thursday and Sunday afternoon.
President honors Canadian priest
President Hipolito Mejia has decorated English-born Canadian priest Luis Quinn. Quinn received the Order of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella, rank of commander.
He was honored for his work on behalf of the province of San Jose de Ocoa. His efforts lead to the construction of 7,000 homes, 130 rural aqueducts, 500 kilometers of rural roads, 10 clinics, 162 rural schools and a vocational training center.
As he pinned the decoration on Father Quinn, President Mejia said: "You have given a demonstration in Ocoa of what can be done with your bare hands and what should be done while others are writing theories and a pile of slobbering people ("pila de babosos") every day theorize and discredit what should be serious work."
Father Quinn, born in England in 1928, migrated to Canada when he was four. He was ordained in 1952 and arrived in the Dominican Republic in 1953. He relocated to San Jose de Ocoa in 1965.
Environment and Armed Forces to work together
The Ministers of Environment and the Armed Forces, Frank Moya Pons and Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez, have joined forces to preserve the ecology. Moya said the military will work to preserve the boundaries of the national parks which are subject to trespassers and squatters. Moya said the defense of the environment and natural resources is a matter of national security. This was announced at a meeting at the National Palace in the presence of President Hipolito Mejia.
During the meeting, the Minister of Environment alleged that government officers, governors, mayors, senators and deputies from the incumbent party, (the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano), as well as officers of the army and the police are protecting people who cut down trees in Dominican forests and sell the contraband wood.
He accused them of using their influence so that those arrested for illegal trafficking of wood were released.
During the meeting, Moya mentioned several cases of violations of the ecology laws by government-related persons.
Hoy newspaper quotes him as saying: "In the past 15 days there have been at least five cases of mayors who have demanded the release of party members. This shows that there is no commitment within the part to protect the natural resources. Those resources are the mainstay of the development of the country," said Moya Pons.
"We have to see with whom and for whom we are working - are we working so that President Mejia can fulfill his government program or are we working to serve particular interests." Moya announced the integration of mayors into Environmental Management Units to protect the forests.
He added that the European Union has made available a special fund of 176 million Euros for sustainable forest development.
Government to start campaign to get everyone to pay for power service
The government announced it will participate in a campaign to create awareness of the need to pay for power service. The decision comes at a time when the government wants to reduce the RD$300 million monthly subsidy it pays to the distributors. Rafael Calderon, Technical Secretary of the Presidency, also announced the government has promised a US$60 million payment to the generators and RD$150 million to reduce the government debt.
Privatization questioned, but contracts extended
A Senate report prepared by economic advisor Pedro Casals Victoria says that the assets of the CDE were undervalued by RD$35,000 million for the privatization of the generation and distribution of power. The report questions whether the US$643 million payment from these private companies ever entered the DR.
The Senate allegation comes at a time when the same Senate has just approved an extension of the contract for the distributors. Senator Enrique Martinez (PLD-La Romana) asks if the privatization process was so bad, why did the PRD-majority Senate extend the contracts of the distributors from 10 to 17 years. Martinez says the government furthermore has taken it upon itself to provide service in the rural areas and the barrios when this was contracted to the distributors.
The former administrator of the CDE, Radhames Segura, attributed the procedural difficulties to Antonio Isa Conde who was in charge of the Commission that carried out the privatization. Isa Conde, in turn, said that if summoned by any technical or legal body, he would answer questions about the privatization process.
Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa promised to investigate the complaint after Easter.
Spanish electricity distributor defends its operation
Ignacio de Alvaro Gonzalez, spokesman for Edenorte and Edesur, the two Union Fenosa power distributors, says that the companies won a fair and transparent tender to privatize a bankrupt company. He defended the operation saying that since starting operation in August 1999, the companies have lost US$234 million, or an average of US$14 million a month. He said they have invested around US$500 million in the country.
He criticized the stand taken by former CDE administrator Radhames Segura (during the government of Leonel Fernandez) and present CDE administrator Cesar Sanchez. He said they are not helping to create an environment in which the electricity crisis could be resolved.
De Alvaro urged political interests to stay out of the dealings. He said that was the whole reason for privatizing the CDE, despite the state continuing on as owner of half of the companies. He admitted that the process has not been what it should have been because Congress failed to pass the General Energy Bill during the previous administration. This has obliged them to operate as a concession of the CDE.
Customs Department eliminates new obstacle to exports
Customs Director Vicente Sanchez Baret cancelled the new ruling by which exporters had to report the contents of shipments 48 hours in advance. The measure was protested by exporters who saw it as another obstacle to their work. Upon making the announcement, Sanchez Baret said the measure was eliminated to expedite exports.
Negotiating a free trade agreement with the big guys
Angel Lockward, Minister of Industry and Commerce and the head of trade negotiations, has announced conversations are being held that could lead to the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and the United States. He said President Vicente Fox of Mexico and Hipolito Mejia of the DR will soon announce the start of talks.
Lockward has also announced the DR will negotiate a free trade agreement directly with the US.
Some economic sectors say this would not be wise as the DR could lose any benefits it stands to gain as a result of negotiations between the US and South American nations, such as Brazil. They point out it is in the best interests of the DR to wait for larger South American countries to negotiate free trade deals before advancing.
Business sectors that oppose the DR negotiating directly with the US are worried that the DR and the Caribbean would have to give up more concessions under this arrangement than if they wait for the signing of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas in 2005.
Inflation drops 0.42% in March from February
The Central Bank said that inflation registered .42% less in March than in February 2001. The drop in inflation is attributed to the lower cost of farm products such as plantains, beans, chicken, potatoes, onions, squash and peppers as well as propane gas and fuel.
Revenues up 20% in first trimester
National Budget director, Luis Ernesto Perez Cuevas, said that government revenues were up 20% in the first trimester of the year. He confirmed that the approximately RD$13,000 million in revenues is about 5% less than what was estimated in the budget.
Businessmen take government to court over 1.5% tax
A group of small businessmen wants to hear the opinion of the Supreme Court on the new 1.5% tax on gross sales. The members of the Camara de Comercio de la Pequeña Empresa in Sabana Perdida, a low-income middle class neighborhood outside of Santo Domingo, dispute the legality of the tax contained in Law 147-00 on Tax Reform.
In the appeal to the Supreme Court, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Frank Reynaldo Quiñones, explained that taxes should be levied on actual profits not on possible and future profits. Quiñones estimates that the tax is only being paid by 1% of Dominican business.
Arturo Villanueva struck by car at 6 am
Arturo Villanueva Martinez, executive vice president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, had to be hospitalized after a vehicle hit him at around 6 am. Villanueva had gone out for his morning exercise stroll. He was hospitalized at the Centro de Medicina Avanzada Abel Gonzalez where he is recovering. He needed plastic surgery on a lower lip.
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