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Construction Fair President Hipolito Mejia and Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas Maldonado inaugurated the 2002 Construction Fair at the grounds of the Feria Ganadera yesterday on the Malecon. Some 100 Dominican and foreign companies are exhibiting their projects, products and services at the fair. Speaking at the opening, the president of the organizing committee of the fair, Cristian Ciccone, said that the construction sector has grown 15% this year, driven by public sector investments. He highlighted the positive effect that the public works are having nationwide as projects have been distributed across the country. The fair is open from 9 to 13 October. |
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Private sector builders hurting While there may be a bonanza for government works builders, private sector developers are hurting. Jose Rodriguez, the former president of the Asociacion de Constructores y Promotores de Viviendas, a leading builders’ association, told Hoy newspaper that builders are confronting serious cash flow problems and many of them have requested bank financing. Once financing is approved, however, there are often delays in the disbursement of the funds as banks themselves are affected by money restraints. Mr. Rodriguez said that the builders assume loans and then find that they have to pay 20-30% more in interest payments on top of the amounts borrowed, making these projects unmarketable and causing a financial crisis. He mentioned that the lowest cost of financing is available at 24-28%, when it should be no more than 22%. Commercial bank money is going for 40%, which he said is alarming. When there is scarcity and money is expensive, as is the case now, the projects take longer to finish and to sell, he explained. The situation is primarily affecting small and medium-size builders, as the increased interest costs are pushing company debt levels too high. |
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Shakira visits President Mejia Colombian pop star Shakira visited President Hipolito Mejia for half an hour yesterday, as reported in the press. She was accompanied by her Argentinean boyfriend, Antonio De la Rua, and her manager in the Dominican Republic, George Nader. She told the President: “I am in love with your country and charmed by your people.” Shakira stayed for two months at a Casa de Campo villa in La Romana. Mejia told the young De la Rua that his parents were good friends of his, upon which De la Rua called his father and passed the phone to the President. President Mejia reaffirmed the invitation he had made to De la Rua during his visit to Argentina during the final months of the latter’s government. De la Rua resigned from public office in Argentina in December 2001, amid growing unrest over economic austerity policies aimed at staving off financial collapse. The Listin Diario reports on the stream of pop stars that have visited President Mejia, including Paulina Rubio, Cristian Castro, Julio Iglesias, Ricardo Montaner, Miguel Varoni, and Gloria and Emilio Estefan. El Caribe reports that Shakira left yesterday for Miami prior to starting her Tour de la Mangosta. She will also work on the finish of her new video clip. |
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ILO director decorated President Hipoollito Mejia decorated Juan Somavia, director of the International Labor Organization with the Duarte, Sanchez, Mella rank of Grand Silver Cross on his visit to Santo Domingo. During the ceremony President Mejia thanked Somavia for his support to Dominican projects presented to the ILO. Somavia said he was impressed that last year there had not been a single work hour lost due to a national strike. Somavia visited to participate in the Seventh National Conference on Productivity and Competitiveness, organized by the Instituto de Formacion Tecnica Profesional (INFOTEP). Somavia lived in the DR in the 40s when his parents were the Chilean ambassadors to the Dominican Republic. |
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Government knew of high power collection levels The Listin Diario reports that the commission that prepared the government solution to the power outages knew that the power companies were enjoying high levels of collection. One of the arguments in favor of passing on to consumers the major increases in the cost of the power services was that the power distributors were suffering from financial crisis because Dominicans were not prone to pay for the service. In its economy section, the Listin Diario says it obtained a copy of a report on the actual collection levels of the companies that shows this is not necessarily true. The report shows that the lowest amount the companies collected was 71%, much more than the 60% reported by the companies to argue their case. Union Fenosa-Edesur collected 85.4%, or of 308,507 clients it billed RD$451.1 million and collected RD$385.2 million. Union Fenosa-Ede Norte collected 76%, or of 380,912 billed clients, it billed RD$297 million and collected RD$225 million. AES-Ede Este collected 71%, the result of billing 390,213 clients and RD$397.7 million and collecting RD$281.4 million. The power distributors used the argument that they were in a critical financial situation due to the low levels of collection. Also cited was the fact that their clients were not paying in order to negotiate and obtain new terms from the government that even violate the Energy Law and the recently approved Power Ruling. The Listin Diario says that the report confirms that, contrary to what has been extensively published, Dominicans are good payers. It strengthens the position that the problem is caused by the power companies, who have not made the contracted investments in lines and meters to sign on more clients and improve collections. |
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The war on the motels The director of the Income Tax Department (DGII), Teofilo (Quico) Tabar, accuses the owners of sex hotels of tax evasion. The hotels report a room occupancy of less than one room per day. But Tabar insists that the rotation of the rooms is much greater. Tabar wants the hotels to pay up for the real use of the rooms that are rented out to short-stay guests and charge for periods of six hours or less. As reported in El Caribe, Tabar says that the daily rotation of a motel room is 2.5-3.5 a day. He is demanding that they pay RD$98 million for the year 2001 for value-added ITBIS tax. Inspectors visited San Isidro motels on Tuesday, and shut down the operations of five. Another 13 could be closed if the government and the owners of the hotel do not reach an agreement in a meeting today. |
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Avoid Dominican mail service El Caribe reports that things are getting worse at Inposdom, the national Dominican postal service. During the final years of the Balaguer administration, and during the Fernandez government as well, the postal department was strengthened, rates were increased and it regained the confidence of thousands of users. But things have been down hill since the inception of the Mejia administration and it has been standard practice for the government to owe mailmen two months in back wages. El Caribe says that the better employees have quit. It appears this is good news for the more expensive private couriers that had suffered when the government service had become again dependable. |
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Garbage landfill needs urgent help Mayor of Santo Domingo Roberto Salcedo told Hoy newspaper yesterday that the Duquesa solid-waste landfill site needs urgent investments. The conversion of the garbage dump, located in the north of Santo Domingo, into a landfill site was a good solution for a few years, until the service payment arrears affected its maintenance. Mayor Salcedo explained that no soil covering is being applied, exposing the dumped garbage to the elements, and making it a health and environmental hazard to nearby city residents. He said that if actions are not taken shortly, the landfill could again affect the entire city of Santo Domingo with its toxic air emissions. Mayor Roberto Salcedo, who took over the job in August, says that the landfill is again an open dump. Garbage is no longer compacted but instead merely deposited at the site. Salcedo also urged the Ministry of Public Works to rebuild the five kilometer access road that is ridden with potholes. |
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Fernandez urges talks with Central America The president of the Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo, former President Leonel Fernandez, advocates strengthening ties with Central America rather than seeking a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States. Speaking on free trade agreements and the Dominican Republic at the La Romana American Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday, he recommended the country concentrate on becoming part of the Central American negotiations with the United States. As reported in El Caribe, Fernandez said that the US government officials have shown little interest in opening bilateral talks with the Dominican Republic. In his opinion, the government and politicians need to join forces with businessmen with ties to Central America. He urged that the country prepare a national strategy to increase our bonds with Central America and from there negotiate with the United States. |
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Peso forecast to drop 13% in 2002 Pedro Silverio, director of Cenantillas, the economic think tank department of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, forecast that by year end the peso would be valued at RD$19.39 to the US$1. At present, you can get up to RD$19.25 to the US$. In a recent economic report Cenantillas indicates that as of September of this year, the peso has devaluated 11% to the US$. By the end of this year he forecast the devaluation would plummet to 13%. This compares to a devaluation of 3.9% in 2000 and 3.2% in 2001. The decline in the value of the peso is attributed to a drop in export revenues (travel and manufacturing) and to governmental fiscal policy. He is also forecasting the economy will grow by a margin of 3.4% and that inflation would end the year at 9%. |
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Protest at the Mercado Modelo Store owners at the Mercado Modelo closed yesterday to protest the Ministry of Tourism’s authorization of 14 guides that they view as undesirables. Only five stores of approximately 100 remained open in the Avenida Mella handicraft market. Pablo Alex Jimenez, president of the merchants association, complains that the tourism ministry’s authorized guides demand 30% commission when bringing tourists to their stores. He said that if the problem with the guides is not resolved, their next step will be to close for two days. As reported in Hoy, Janet Camilo, who is in charge of tourism services at the Ministry, said that the guides are part of the tourism market. “The corrupt ones are the vendors in the market that every day offer the guides more commission to attract the clients,” she said. She said the big losers with the closing of the market are the vendors themselves. |
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Two stowaways caught at Las Americas Two youths from La Caleta, the town nearest to the Las Americas International Airport, were arrested yesterday after they attempted to stow away on board an American Airlines flight that was scheduled to depart for Miami. Identified as Martin Fernandez and Jonathan Garcia, they were caught by a crew member, who heard strange noises inside the plane. The would-be stowaways told security agents that they had entered the secure area of the airport around 5:15 am on Wednesday and hid themselves in the airplane while it was empty. The incident occurs at a time when the FAA has requested that security be stepped up at Dominican airports. |
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Spanish trade exhibition España Exporta is the exhibition sponsored by the Spanish export department, the Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX) at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel. The event seeks to promote new market goods and services and President Hipolito Mejia attended it’s opening yesterday. Speaking during the opening, Spanish Ambassador Maria Jesus Figa Lopez-Palop said that Spanish investment in the Dominican Republic is US$3 billion, mostly in tourism, energy and tobacco ventures. She said that next week a mission of 40 Spanish companies would visit the country to explore their interests in investing in the Dominican Republic. |
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