Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

Daily News - 2 May 2001
Green light to controversial La Vega dam
President Hipolito Mejia announced the start this month of the construction on the Manabao-Bejucal-Tavera dam in the province of La Vega. The President had said in Taiwan during a recent visit that the dam would not be built. 
The construction is vehemently opposed by environmental and community groups in Jarabacoa that fear it will cause major ecological damage. They say it would require diverting the Rio Yaque del Norte for some 40 kilometers, affecting Jarabacoa ecotourism projects. The construction of the dam had been discarded years ago after studies done during the Balaguer administration recommended it not be built. 
President Mejia said a study carried out by a Spanish company, Union Española, concluded the dam and hydroelectric project would not cause important ecological damage. President Mejia said there are plans to turn Jarabacoa into a true tourism center with the construction of new roads, sewage systems and the improvement of the La Confluencia vacation area. 
Furthermore, he said the government plans to convert the state-owned Hotel Montaña into a school to train environment specialists.
The Minister of Environment has not issued an opinion on the dam project. 
Those who defend the dam argue that it would save US$23 million in fuel imports and create 2,000 jobs. 
US is leading source of tourists to DR; Delta to fly here in November
Tourism Minister Ramon Alfredo Bordas said that last year the US surpassed Germany as the main single-country source of visitors. He said 632,000 US tourists visited in 2000. Most of the US tourists are coming to the Punta Cana area. 
Minister Bordas also said Delta Airlines will begin regular flights to the Dominican Republic in November, according to El Caribe newspaper. 
Investigating Santiago's collapsed building
The Santiago District Attorney office and the National Department of Investigations (DNI) are in charge of an investigation into the collapse of a movie house under construction in Santiago. Seven people died inside the building after 10 pm on Saturday, 28 April. Construction engineer Horacio Salvador Alvarez said yesterday in a press conference that De la Rosa & Asociados and engineer Orlando Franco Batlle had carried out studies prior to construction. Reportedly the city government, the Ministry of Public Works and the engineer and architecture college northern branch had opposed the construction due to the unstable ground in the area. 
Alarming number of child pregnancies
A study carried out in 50 public schools in Santo Domingo in January showed that 160 girls aged 9-13 were pregnant, some of them in the sixth grade. The study, Riesgos en Adolescentes (Risks of Adolescents) was ordered by the Ministry of Education. Most of the girls that get pregnant abandon their studies. 
Public charity funds diverted to wages at City Government
El Siglo newspaper reveals that the City Government of Santo Domingo spent only RD$4.6 million of its RD$36.9 million public charity budget on actually helping destitute people (mostly the handicapped and elderly). Eighty-eight percent of the budget goes to pay monthly wages of staff affiliated with the PRD or to those who are doing the hiring in the city government. 
Major works are truly paralyzed
President Mejia said on Monday that it is not true that public works have stopped due to budgetary constraints. But the Listin Diario newspaper reaffirms today that construction is not advancing on several major public works. The paper reports that the 56-km. Autovia del Este, the central library of the state university (UASD) and the Juan Pablo Duarte bridge works are indeed paralyzed due to lack of funds to pay the contractors. And of the 28 firms that are contracted to complete the Supreme Court of Justice, only two are working because the Ministry of Public Works has not been paying them since September. 
News reports attribute the lull to the hiring binge the government went on expecting a windfall from the new tax laws. Instead, the new taxes further constrained the economy, and the money didn't come in as expected. As the new personnel could not be fired, disbursements for public works have been significantly reduced and in many cases totally paralyzed. 
Dominicans not happy about government fund management
According to results of the Hamilton-Beattie poll carried out for Hoy newspaper, 50% of Dominicans feel the government is mismanaging its funds, 32% feel government management of funds is good, 9% say it is excellent and 9% said they do not know. 
The same study showed that 81% of Dominicans feel that taxes are necessary so the government can provide public services and build public works such as schools, hospitals and roads. Nevertheless, 46% said the Mejia government is obliging the population to pay taxes when the use of the funds is not clear. 
Gallup poll shows 21 point drop in Mejia government popularity
The Mejia administration dropped 21 points in popularity from the February Rumbo Magazine-Gallup poll to the present poll. In February, 71% of Dominicans believed that the next three years of government would be good or so-so. Two months later, expectations for good government have dropped to 50%. 
Those who think it will be a bad government have increased from 21% in February to 37% in April. Women are the most pessimistic, as the higher cost of living affects their household budgets. 
To the question if the government is sure of where it is taking the country, Dominicans of voting age responded: Yes: 38%; No: 57%. 
To the question has the government of President Mejia given a clear idea how it will resolve the problems of the country, Dominicans responded: Yes: 32%; No 64%. 
As to how the economic team of the government is doing, 18% said the team is helping and 76% said it is not. 
Mejia continues to be the good guy
The Gallup poll, published in Rumbo Magazine this week, says the President's personal image remains good among Dominicans, despite the generally negative perception about his management of the economy. 55% of the population feel Mejia is either a democratic or somewhat democratic statesman. Those who feel he is "very arbitrary or somewhat arbitrary" make up 34% of the population. 
For 42% of the population he is "very popular," and 23% responded he is "somewhat popular." Only 17% said he is unpopular.
Mejia, though, does not score high in citizens perception of his ability as a leader. 31% feel strongly that he does not know how to govern, and 18% feel strongly he does know how to govern.
In the National District, the poll showed the PRD is losing political pull as a result of the economic problems. The 46% support it had in February has declined to 35%. The PRD loss is the PLD's and PRSC's gain. The opposition parties went from 26% to 32% and from 14% to 19%. 
The survey was carried out from 21 to 25 April in the National District (Santo Domingo), which has the largest concentration of voters. 
Case against former President discarded
The coordinator of First Instance courts of the National district, Judge Enrique Marchena, has thrown out the case against former President Leonel Fernandez and several cabinet members who were accused of fraud in the privatization of the Dominican Electricity Corporation. The Judge did so on grounds that the group of citizens that presented the case could not do so in name of the State as they did not have the authorization of the President of the DR. 
Pedro Manuel Casals Victoria, who prepared the report, said he would request the Supreme Court of Justice suspend the judge for lack of impartiality in the case. 
Ramon Prieto says ecotourism is the future
Ramon Prieto, president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, says that ecotourism is the future of tourism. In an interview with the Listin Diario he explained that interest in protecting the environment is a global trend among tourists. Prieto has spoken up against the construction of more large all-inclusive resorts. He favors developing smaller properties in areas of interest to tourists interested in the ecology and adventure travel.
He said that, in the past, the industry has measured its progress by the number of rooms that are built. "We feel that is not the right way to measure the industry; it should be by how much foreign exchange is generated," said Prieto.
"We have to start to organize ourselves and our work; the number of rooms that we already have is sufficient."
"Construction is not development because when the room occupation is low we have to send the employees home," he explained. He said that hotels employ more people than hotel construction. 
Prieto is spearheading a national campaign to put a halt to hotel construction in the country, to give the industry time to catch up with the demand. For years, the Dominican Republic has had the highest growth rate of hotel room construction. There are more than 52,000 hotel rooms in the DR. 
Pedro Tomasio, president of the North Coast chapter of Opetur, a major tour operator association, also favors putting a halt to hotel construction in the DR. He told the Listin Diario: "An official policy for the regulation of the construction of new hotel rooms would be prudent." 
Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008.  DR1. All Rights Reserved.