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Daily News - 20 April 2001
President Mejia at Columbia University in NY
President Hipolito Mejia expressed his concern for the continuing decline in money sent home by Dominicans living abroad during his talk at the Latin American Affairs Workshop held yesterday at Columbia University in New York City. He said the problem is that more second and third generation Dominicans are living abroad and they have fewer ties to relatives in the DR. Remittances from abroad have over the years helped the Dominican balance of payments and been an important contribution to the Gross National Product.
In his speech, Mejia recognized the Dominican economy has gone from one based on cash crops to one based on services, with tourism, commerce and free zone manufacturing being the most dynamic sectors. Nevertheless, he emphasized that the modernization of farming is one of the top priorities of his government. He said he sees in farming the key to development because of "the direct correlation between food production and sustainable economic growth of under-developed countries."
Tender held to choose engineers to improve public schools
The Ministry of Education announced yesterday the seven winners of the tender conducted along with the Colegio Dominicano de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, the leading association of engineers, to build, enlarge or repair public school classrooms. Present at the announcement of the winners at the CODIA was Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, who is the acting Minister of Education. Engineer Rafael Marion Landais, manager of the unit of tenders for the professional association, represented the engineers. The schools are located in Azua, Bahoruco, Independencia, Pedernales and Peravia provinces. The work will be financed with RD$21 million from the German bank KFW and a Dominican government counterpart. The program calls for the construction or expansion of 206 classrooms in 56 schools and the repair of 650 classrooms in 150 public schools, plus the regular maintenance of the schools with the participation of the community.
Bienvenido Brito to head Bienes Nacionales
Bienvenido Brito has been sworn in as the new director of Bienes Nacionales, the government department in charge of state property. Brito has an excellent reputation as an honest and professional public servant. He was controller in a previous PRD administration. He replaces Victor Tió Fernandez who was appointed to the post despite having been investigated for corruption during a previous PRD administration. Tió faces charges of corruption after a TV investigative journalist revealed irregularities in Bienes Nacionales.
Private investment or government investment?
The Executive Branch sent to the Senate yesterday three loan agreements with international lending organizations worth US$143 million. El Caribe newspaper reports that a large portion of the resources will be used to build produce markets in Santo Domingo and interior cities. Minister of Agriculture Eligio Jaquez delivered the projects to the Senate. They include financing for the Merca Santo Domingo, a mega farm produce market that would go up at Km. 22 of the Duarte Highway. This would be a US$69 million investment. Originally Merca Santo Domingo had been promoted as a project of private investors.
Also included in the private financing is funding for the construction of 295 plant nurseries throughout the nation.
Several ministries take more than their share
In a front page story today, the Listin Diario newspaper focuses on the rapid pace the ministries of public health, public works, sports and industry & commerce and the public works department are gobbling up their 2001 budget. The Listin Diario says they have overdrawn their budgets by RD$8,482 million. The newspaper stands behind forecasts that if the government continues this pace of spending, at year end there will be a RD$10,000+ million fiscal deficit. It reports that already several government departments are having difficulties meeting their payrolls, paying suppliers and carrying out programs because of the overspending.
El Siglo reports that the government had planned to spend 66% on current expenditures, but this has increased to 75%.
Furthermore Finance Minister Fernando Alvarez Bogaert revealed that during the first half of the month, fiscal revenues were RD$90 million below expectations.
Hoy newspaper says the payroll has increased RD$134 million in the first trimester of the year, for 310,000 public workers, or RD$1,504 million a month. That represents 30% of the total budget and almost half of the current expenditures of the government.
Preventing the signing of underage ball players
The Commissioner of Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic Rafael Oscar Perez signed an agreement with the Junta Central Electoral to verify birth certificates of Major League baseball recruits. The agreement seeks to prevent talented but underage baseball players from using false birth certificates to get signed by Major League Baseball teams. Manuel Ramón Morel Cerda signed for the Junta Central Electoral, which issues identity cards in the DR to all those over 16 years.
Aviation Board turns down American Eagle deal
The Civil Aviation Board turned down an American Eagle offer to fly into Barahona airport in exchange for being allowed to fly into Herrera, a small international airport located in Santo Domingo.
If American Eagle were allowed to fly into Herrera, it would mean the end of Air Santo Domingo's service into the airport. Air Santo Domingo flies Santo Domingo-San Juan and also offers domestic service to several tourist destinations within the country. Air Santo Domingo would not be able to compete with American Eagle given its ties to American Airlines and its frequent flyer program.
Reportedly, American Eagle had offered four times a week service between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Barahona for at least two years if they were authorized for Herrera as well. Barahona has a first-class international airport but has not yet been able to convince any international carrier to offer service there.
Privatizing Haina Port?
The Listin Diario says its sources indicate that the government has given the rights to Haina Port to a company known as Compañia HIT. The company will provide the basic services at the port from the docking of ships, loading and unloading of cargo, dredging and other operations. Today, 80% of the cargo shipped to the DR enters by way of Haina Port.
Both Angel Garcia Berroa, president of the board of directors of the Dominican Port Authority, and Anibal García Duvergé, executive director of the port authority, said they could not confirm the agreement yet. Apparently they are waiting from a go ahead from President Mejia who is abroad.
Garcia said that a tender was not held because the shipping companies that promote the project have earned the special treatment. He announced that the Port Authority is also studying other concessions for the ports of Azua, San Pedro and the Santo Domingo tourist port.
The Listin Diario published the complaint of Nassim Alemany, president of the Dominican Association of Industries, who sits on the Port Authority board. He says he was not invited to the meeting in which the HIT proposal was presented. He said it would have been better to privatize the port in a transparent way by international and national tender.
Punta Caucedo Port story clarifications
Samuel Conde, one of the leading promoters of the US$300 million Punta Caucedo port development, says that from the very initial stages of the project their efforts have been to invite the local shipping agents to participate. He states these efforts have been unsuccessful, despite formal invitations and proposals during the course of the last year and a half.
Conde says Haina Port operations will continue to prosper once Caucedo becomes operational because Caucedo will be limited to the handling of containers, automobiles and other wheeled vehicles and possibly passengers from the cruise ship industry.
"If you consider that at present the Port of Haina handles over 12 million tons of cargo per year of which only approximately two million tons come from containers, it is clear that Haina will continue to play a very important role in the overall import/export scenario of the Dominican Republic."
For more information, see yesterday's news brief at
http://www.dr1.com/daily/news041901.shtml
Editorial on DR at Quebec Americas Summit
An editorial today in El Caribe newspaper highlights the incongruencies between the ministries of Industry & Commerce and Foreign Affairs. "The Dominican delegation, on one side, travels with what appears to be a total lack of coordination and strategy. While we haven't yet even ensured the start of the timid free trade agreements signed with Central America and Caricom, our Minister of Industry and Commerce announces that our President has authorized him to negotiate, Chile-style, a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States, that will undoubtedly appreciate the gesture, because this is to their advantage as it weakens Brazil's position. The rest of the cabinet remains silent and an astonished private sector does not know if it should take the matter seriously since most of our imports come from the US. This agreement would mean that the Customs House would practically stop collecting revenues."
The editorial writer continues: "Mexico will offer us something in Quebec, in exchange for us delivering to them the votes we have secured for a seat in the UN Security Council. But this will not include their support so that Washington may grant us, in migration matters, the same treatment that President Fox has been seeking for the Mexicans."
PRSC denies any ties to Angel Lockward
The Executive Commission of the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano called a press conference yesterday to make clear that the performance of the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Angel Lockward, does not compromise the PRSC in any way. Federico Antun Batlle said that when accepting the post, Lockward did not request the permission of either the party nor party leader former President Joaquin Balaguer. The press conference sought to clarify that the PRSC has not requested the resignation of Lockward as it does not have any ties to him. The party spokesman emphasized that Lockward accepted the job as a result of a unilateral personal decision and his performance thus is on a personal level. His assuming the post in no way implied there was or is any kind of alliance between the PRD and the PRSC.
Only what comes in should go out, says Listin editorial
A Listin Diario editorial reminisces about former President Joaquin Balaguer's primitive style of bookkeeping, using a small notebook to jot down government revenues before deciding on government expenditures.
The newspaper ironically says that the "pulpero style" is the key to effective budget management. And wonders whether this style is no longer in practice.
"Apparently not," writes the newspaper, "to judge from the disorder that is evidenced by the use of internal revenues and the evident miscalculations carried out by the architects of the national budget of this year."
"After having estimated and passed a budget of expenditures for RD$61,418 million, it looks like expenses will surpass RD$70,000 million. While the disorder intensifies, thousands of retired government employees, suppliers and other persons and companies that do business with the government are complaining of delays in payments," says the editorial.
The newspaper urges President Mejia to exercise more direct control to avoid the continued worsening of what it describes as a "chart of distortions."
The Listin urges the government to implement austerity, greater control of resources and moderation in making promises it cannot fulfill.
Bringing politics back to the Armed Forces
Ahora magazine this week warns that politics may again be penetrating the Armed Forces. The magazine highlights that high ranking military officers endorse the creation of a military commando that would be named after the late PRD leader, Jose Francisco Peña Gomez. It comments on the meetings that have taken place at the Pedro Brand army brigade and the officers club of the Ministry of Armed Forces to this end. It also highlights the return to military ranks of those who worked in favor of Hipolito Mejia in the past presidential campaign.
The PRD government of Antonio Guzman (1978-1982) is credited with ridding the military of partisan politics and supporting the professionalism of the officers.
Vimenca penalized for illegal use of software
Judge Francisco Ortega sentenced Vimenca, the local representative of Western Union in the DR, to compensate Microsoft RD$5 million for violating intellectual property rights. Vimenca did not purchase the required licenses for the use of Microsoft software.
Former President points out major threats to DR
Former President Leonel Fernandez, at a conference at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, said that the main threats the DR must face in the 21st century are drug trafficking, migration of Haitians, dependency on the US, AIDS and environmental deterioration. He pointed out that while the DR is being used as a bridge for the transport of illicit drugs to the US, the menace of what he called the "toll" payment of drugs left in the DR in the process is dangerously increasing the number of local consumers and creating a large market here.
Traffic through Punta Cana International is up
Tourists using Punta Cana International Airport in the East increased 19.3% for the first trimester of the year, reports El Caribe newspaper. Some 320,503 tourists arrived during the first trimester. Statistics show that a quarter of them came from the United States. Punta Cana is increasingly becoming a popular destination for Americans seeking a Caribbean holiday. This was reaffirmed with the arrival of former President Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton for their own R & R vacation.
Telecable Nacional announces Internet services
Telecable Nacional, Santo Domingo's leading cable TV company, announced its subscribers can now surf the web on their television sets using the company's Net TV service by paying an additional RD$295 per month. Email and chat services are now being offered for free to those who purchase the company's premium channels program. Telecable announced it purchased Platinom.net, a local Internet services company that will be its Internet arm. Services will be available to start in Santo Domingo neighborhoods: Paraiso, Naco, La Julia, Los Prados, Las Praderas, Seralles, Piantini, Carmelita, La Esperilla and El Vergel. The announcement occurred amidst rumors of a buyout by Tricom, the second largest telecommunications company.
DR wins gold in shooting
The Dominican juvenile team won the gold medal in the Central American and Caribbean Shooting Age Group Championship. The team members were Felix Orlando Hermida, Julio Manuel Dujarric and Juan Gil who totaled a score of 339 points. Guatemala won the silver, and Cuba the bronze. The championships were held in Cuba. The DR also won a silver medal and a bronze.
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