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Daily News - 1 May 2001
President Mejia says construction will not stop
President Hipolito Mejia refuted claims that public investment is declining. He guaranteed that works under construction will not stop and that new major projects are about to start.
He also lashed out against newspaper editors who publish reports about declining public investment, calling them rascals ("sinverguenzas"). He denied that public investment has dropped RD$1,000 million as El Siglo newspaper published on Sunday, 30 April.
"Look, the problem of many of you journalists and of the other rascals that direct the media I believe that is part of the norm, that you make a cold analysis of things," Mejia told journalist Leo Reyes of El Siglo.
He said the reality of the situation is different from the journalists' "cold analysis". There are many public works that have been started and are not included in the budget reports, explained the President. He said the highways of Barahona and San Juan are not listed, for example. He emphasized that public works have not been stopped nor will they be stopped.
The newspaper published on Monday that government investment has declined 46.5% in the first trimester and that official data from the National Budget Office shows construction work investment was down 56.3%. The President says the publishers of that data are excessive talkers ("babosos").
On Friday, the President said at a Bani Development Foundation breakfast that conflicts of interest among those who want to build the projects have delayed their execution. The government has not been carrying out tenders, but is instead hand picking the builders of most public works projects.
The President announced that the Northwestern aqueduct, the Santo Domingo-Samana highway, and the megaport in Manzanillo, Monte Cristi would start next week.
City bypass highway to be built
Onesimo Gonzalez, director of the Santo Domingo Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) said that the government will soon start building a six-lane 23.6 kilometer express highway that will bypass Santo Domingo to the north. The highway, to be built by a private company with the state contributing the land, would start near the Dominican Petroleum Refinery in Haina and cross by the La Isabela Airport near Higuero and Villa Mella to continue through San Isidro to the Las Americas Expressway. The idea is that trucks crossing the city from the southwest to the southeast take that route. Gonzalez said the first phase from Haina to Higuero would cost RD$1,200 million.
President visits several low income neighborhoods
President Hipolito Mejia visited the low income neighborhoods of Los Praditos, Cristo Rey, Simon Bolivar, Guaricanos and Villa Mella to participate in the low cost food program. During the visit, construction materials for home repairs was distributed and he posed for photographers as he pegged a nail and board to a house in Villa Mella.
His government has announced the start of a RD$70 million program that would make RD$10,000-RD$250,000 loans available to small businesses at 1.2% monthly interest rates with up to three year repayment plans. The government also announced the implementation of permanent medical assistance programs, day care centers, and environmental clean ups.
Government income improves
El Siglo newspaper reports that government collections increased RD$559 million in March over February, but that collections for the first trimester were below what was planned. Tax collections for the first trimester totalled RD$14,231.5 million, or RD$1,123.2 million less than estimated, according to the National Budget Office (ONAPRES). This amount includes a RD$800 million loan the government obtained from a pool of banks to make payments on the foreign debt.
El Siglo says current expenditures have used up 76% of government income for the year.
Despite its claims of having inherited a nation in a calamitous state from the previous administration, the Mejia government has added many new jobs. El Siglo newspaper points out that the government paid out RD$12,085.7 million in wages from August 2000 to March 2001, up from RD$10,020.4 million for August 1999 to March 2000.
Program to improve dairy productivity
Minister of Agriculture Eligio Jaquez has formally launched the Programa para el Mejoramiento de la Ganaderia Lechera, a program to improve dairy production. Lidio Martinez Cairo and Israeli consultant Shimon Ofir direct the RD$44 million program. It will benefit 400 cattle farms in Bani, Bonao, San Francisco de Macoris, Monte Plata, San Juan de la Maguana, northwestern provinces and the National District. A production increase from 246,000 liters per farm to 352,000 liters is expected as a result.
Current fuel prices
Premium Gasoline RD$43.08
Regular Gasoline RD$37.38
Premium Diesel RD$24.88
Regular Diesel RD$22.42
Avtur RD$19.56
Angel Miolan recognized
Tourism Minister Ramon Alfredo Bordas recognized Angel Miolan as the 'father of Dominican tourism'. Miolan was appointed Director of Tourism in 1967 and remained in the post until August 1974, working under former President Balaguer. When he was named to the position, 27,948 tourists visited the country annually. People at the time would make fun of his efforts to promote tourism. By 1974, there were 249,550 travelers. Today, travel has again increased tenfold.
Bad news for democracy
Looks like it was too good to be true. The announced Junta Central Electoral ruling that voters would be able to choose their aldermen and their mayors as well as deputies regardless of the party they represent looks like it will not happen in 2002. A sector within the ruling PRD objected to the plan. Now a final decision has been postponed until next Friday, but sources doubt there is time to implement the new ruling before the next elections. It was intended to give voters more power.
Fidel Castro says there will be war if he is arrested abroad
Cuban President Fidel Castro says there will be combat if any judge abroad seeks to place him under arrest. His comment is part of a letter delivered to the Listin Diario in response to comments made by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon in an interview. Judge Garzon went down in history for ordering the arrest of Chilean strongman General Augusto Pinochet.
Garzon was asked whether he would dare to send Fidel Castro to jail. He replied that in Spain the Constitution does not allow proceedings against active heads of state. Thus, only an international penal court could proceed against Castro.
The newspaper published Castro's letter in its Sunday, 29 April edition. In it, he warns: "If any judge or any authority in Spain or any other OTAN country attempts to arrest me, making use of arbitrary extraterritorial means and violating rights that are sacred, he should know before hand that there will be war, regardless of where they attempt to do so. I believe in the extraterritoriality of honor and human dignity," said Castro.
Mejia government popularity declines
The Hamilton-Beattie poll results published today in Hoy newspaper show that 59% of Dominicans of all income levels and from all regions do not agree with the direction in which the Mejia administration is leading the nation. Only 16% of those polled feel the Mejia government is proceeding correctly.
These figures contrast with the same poll carried out in November, three months after Mejia took office, when most Dominicans were optimistic about the future. They now are pessimistic. To the question, "In the next three years of the Mejia administration do you think the economic situation of the country will improve, worsen or stay the same?" 39% responded it would get worse, 28% said it would improve and 24% said it would stay the same. This contrasts with the results of the same poll taken in November 2000 when only 15% thought things would get worse.
Tragic outing to the Book Fair
Fourteen students and a professor from a Monte Plata public school were injured in a bus-truck collision last Friday en route to the Santo Domingo Book Fair. Their bus driver tried to avoid an oncoming vehicle and hit a parked truck at Km. 20 of the Monte Plata-Santo Domingo highway. The accident occurred at 11 am. The students were sent to the Dario Contreras Trauma Hospital in Santo Domingo and the teacher to the Semma teacher's hospital.
Horror story in Santiago
Five bodies have been recovered while another is believed to still be under the debris of a shopping mall and movie theatre that was going up in Santiago city. The building was at Avenida Salvador Estrella Sadhala and Juan Pablo Duarte. The toppling of the building brings to the forefront the government's inability to enforce the building codes.
News reports indicate the Santiago City Government, the Ministry of Public Works and the College of Engineers and Architects (CODIA) had all objected to the building because structural provisions were not adequate. A subterranean river is known to pass below the site. But the builders did not heed the orders to stop construction. The building collapsed on Saturday, 28 April, at around 10 pm. The deceased include a woman and four men who were on the construction site after hours. News reports indicate some of the men were playing dominoes and one person actually lived on the construction site.
Gustavo Turull, owner of the building, told the Listin Diario that he had not been notified that the building had construction defects. Turull said RD$18 million had been invested in the construction and the theaters were to have been ready by June. The Palacio del Cine would have housed eight movie halls of various capacities. The engineer, Horacio Alvarez, told the newspaper they had all their construction permits.
Santiago Governor Victor Mendez says there was negligence in the application of the law.
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