| Daily News - 30 April 2004 |
The very first track and field Grand Prix begins tomorrow at four o’clock in the afternoon in the huge Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium in Santo Domingo. This will be the first event of the Grand Prix Athletic Circuit of the Caribbean. Yesterday, Minister of Sports, Cesar Cedeno, announced that President Hipolito Mejia had given instructions that the event be free to the public. This gesture was designed to insure a full hose that would encourage the Dominican athletes, as well as the many foreign participants..According to Andres Polimir, the president of the Dominican Track and Field Federation, as many as 45,000 spectators can see the event. In a press conference held at the Verizon Club, Felix Sanchez told reporters that he would be running the 400 meters as part of his preparation for the Olympic Games to be held in Athens this summer. According to the two-time world 400 meter hurdle champion, “it is too early in the season to do the hurdles.” Sanchez said that he is about 30% above his condition at this time last year, a year in which he conquered the world title for a second time as well as the gold medal in his specialty at the Pan American Games held in Santo Domingo. According to a press release by the IAAF, many international stars have been invited to the event. The IAAF reports that Dominican track and field star Felix Sanchez is in Santo Domingo for the 1 May North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association. Prize money amounting to US$170,000 will be distributed among the competing athletes. Two-time world champion in the 400-meter hurdles, Sanchez will be competing only in the 400-meter run. And Pan American Games gold medalist, Juana Arendel will be competing in the women’s high jump.
According to Tony Campbell, the event’s co-ordinator, some 45 international track and field competitors will take part, including world long-jump champion Dwight Phillips from the United States. The men will see competitions in the 100-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter run, 1,500-meter run, 400-meter hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and triple jump. Women’s competitions will include the 100-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, 400-meters run, 400-meter hurdles, 1,500-meter, high jump, long jump, triple jump and shot put.
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The Hamilton Beattie & Staff-Hoy poll that was released yesterday confirmed a growing confidence in the Central Electoral Board and its work. According to today’s Hoy, the survey shows an important rise in voter confidence. In the latest period, 80% of the people questioned expressed a positive attitude towards the work being done by the JCE. This is a 9% rise in favor of the JCE over the data given in the March poll. However, everything is not flowers for the Electoral Board. Only two persons out of five think that the JCE best serves the electorate, while over 50% feel that the JCE serves the interests of the politicians or its own interests. The survey, carried out between the 22nd and 25th of April, showed that there was a drop in voter fears as well. Half of the voters said that fraud would not be an issue, and last month only 38% were positive on this issue, an important 12% increase in voter confidence. Nonetheless, potential voters identified with the PRSC (57%) and PLD (53%) parties continued to express worries as to the possibility of an electoral fraud. Only 23% of the potential PRD voters considered fraud to be an issue.
The superintendent of electricity, George Reinoso, told reporters yesterday that one of the fundamental problems of the electric sector is the fact that the distributors are bankrupt and have lost their lines of credit. “And the generating sector has been de-capitalized because the distributors don’t have the cash flow to pay them, “ added Reinoso. Reinoso spoke at the Consulting Workshop on the Reform of the Dominican Electrical Sector organized by the National Energy Commission. According to the superintendent, the problem is that there has never existed an office for collecting revenues and charged with paying the generators and others down the line. Another problem brought to light by Reinoso, but not for the first time, was the fact that electricity is generated in dollars but the consumers pay in pesos, a situation aggravated by the devaluation of the peso. A further issue in the sector is the fact that credit lines have been lost with local suppliers and what is even more damaging is the loss of credit with the fuel suppliers. Now fuel must be prepaid a week in advance, which requires more capital. The electricity superintendent told his audience that the only thing the government could do was to give out incentives that would make one type of fuel more beneficial than another type. He pointed out “that was why most of the generating plants that are coming on-line will be producing benefits within eight months.”
For Reinoso, one of the more curious problems was the fact that nobody is really sure of just what the total demand for electricity really is. According to the arithmetic of the superintendent, peak demand for each of the circuits in the system is between 1800 and 1900 megawatts (MW). If we add some 250 MW that are being generated by businesses that are disconnected from the CDEEE, plus the isolated systems, we get around 350 MW, for a total demand of 2,250 MW. Then he pointed out that there are large segments of the population that cannot pay for electricity, and another segment that treats stealing electricity as a “sport.” This just worsens the problem, and makes things more difficult in the long run.
Speaking at the same seminar, Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of the National Council of Private Businesses (CONEP), told her audience that the root causes of the problems in the sector were caused by not applying the General Law of Electricity, and by not punishing the violators of the law. The outspoken business leader emphasized that the business community wants the law to be applied, and that the rights of the non-regulated users be respected as provided for by the law. She pointed out that just recently there was an attempt to circumvent the law by saying that the economic situation of the country made the application of the law most difficult. Viyella de Paliza called this scenario “inconceivable” because the energy problem cannot be tied to party politics nor private interests, because it requires a national solution. One of her main points was that as long as the national system is not capable of providing a steady service at a competitive price for all the clients, the government must respect the rights acquired by those industries that invested in their own power plants. These are generators that were installed not because the industrialists wanted to do so but because they had to do so in order to survive. The CONEP leader pushed for a national consensus that would solve the energy problems, especially since the local industries cannot “compete in the global economy with unreliable, expensive and poor quality electricity.”
The newspaper El Caribe reports that there will be 200 international observers for the 16 May elections in the Dominican Republic. The United States alone will invest RD$69.3 million pesos in support of the elections. According to the article, the United States will send 50 volunteer observers that were trained by the US embassy. Ambassador hans Hertell told reporters that his government has donated US$1.2 million dollars to support the civic group Participacion Ciudadana in there programs of monitoring and training of 6,000 volunteer observers. Hertell spoke at the seminar “Democracy at the Crossroads: Economic and Political Crisis in the Dominican Republic” that was held the 21 April in Washington, D. C. Hertell also confirmed a US$325,000 dollar donation to the OAS, so that that organization could sent 25 observers to the elections. This is twice the number of observers that the OAS sent to the municipal and congressional elections of 2002. the European Union has indicated that it will only send observers if they are requested by the Dominican government. Along with the OAS and Participacion Ciudadana observers, it is expected that observers from other groups such as the Carter Center and the International Federation of Election Systems (IFES) will accept the invitation that the JCE has sent out.
The political parties have until today to present their lists of invited observers to the JCE. According to sources, the El Caribe said that the PLD has a list of nearly 100 invitees and the PRSC a much shorter list. The PRD has not said how many they would be inviting.
According to the economic section of the El Caribe newspaper, auto sales are down, way down. Prices have tripled over the past year, due in part to the new taxes, the devaluation of the peso and the fluctuations in the exchange market. ACOFAVE, the Association of New Car Dealers, is reporting a 20% drop in sales over last year. The first three months of 2003 saw 3,107 vehicles leave the car lots. So far this year, the same period saw just 2,439 sales. Among the taxes mentioned were the 10% exchange commission, the 2% import tax and the 12% VAT or ITBIS, but vehicles also pay a selective consumer tax that varies from 10% to 80%, depending on the vehicle. A Toyota Corolla that cost RD$380,000 last year costs RD$950,00 this year. A Toyota that is priced at US$18,600 dollars (yes, dollars)will, at yesterday’s exchange rate of RD$44.50, pay RD$281, 418 pesos in taxes. Most dealers do not place the price on their new cars so as not to scare off potential buyers.
Both the government-intervened Listin Diario and the El Caribe report that the Dominican government has signed a contract with an Australian company, Lagunas Limited, to exploit the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in Cotui. The contract guarantees the government benefits of US$50 million dollars over an eleven year, six month period. According to the Listin Diario, five percent of the profits will go to the Sanchez Ramirez province. The contract was signed by Sonia Guzman de Hernandez, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Brian Johnson, president of Lagunas Limited. The Australian company will exploit the trailings dam of Lagunas, which is part of the sulfides mined by Rosario Dominicana. The yearly working of one million tons of trailings will produce 94,740 ounces of gold and 943,810 ounces of silver, as well as 4,371 tons of zinc. The Australian company will use the Albion Process patented by Mount Isa Mining of Australia. This process will serve to lower the environmental problems associated with the production of so much sulfuric acid.
According to Pedro Vasquez Chavez, the Director of Mining, the handling of the trailings will be environmentally sound and permit the restoration of the bio-systems of the area. While Placer Dome had originally won the contract, they lacked the sophisticated technology of handling the trailings in an environmentally safe manner.
Diario Libre reporter Diana de Miguel writes that George W. Bush will go after the Dominican vote in the November elections by playing the Free Trade Agreement card. At least this was the opinion of Michael Skol, a senior associate of Manchester Trade, during a talk organized by the American Chamber of Commerce. It appears that the electoral force of the Dominican vote in the United States elections could be very important, not only for the approval of the Free Trade Agreement but also for the candidates that will need the Hispanic vote in order to keep their seats in Congress. Skol recommended that the Dominican voter use political action and cool calculations before placing their votes. “If the Democratic candidate win the election, it will be much more difficult to win approval for the Free Trade Agreement,” commented Skol. On Wednesday, the Dominican Republic, the United States and the Central American republics began a legal review of the wording of the agreement, in order to see that the language was the same as what was said at the negotiating table.
The Dominican Annual Travel Exchange (DATE), a yearly get together of tour operators, hoteliers and suppliers has generated a lot of expectations this year. According to the Diario Libre, the hotel chains are looking to diversify their offerings, especially when the tourist demand is focusing on more contact with the local social and cultural scene. The new strategies are visible at the DATE venues. Hotel chains are turning more and more towards conventions and a greater contact with the cultural richness of the Dominican Republic. Starz Resorts is introducing its concept of “boutique collection” for a hotel under construction in Playa Dorada, the Victorian House, just ten minutes from the airport. The press note says that the new facility will have 50 rooms designed in different styles of suites, and gourmet restaurants.. The guests will have breakfast included, but will not be tied into an “all-inclusive” regimentation . According to Ian Schembri-Sant, the president of Starz Resorts, his group is clear on the fact that the hotels “are a window to the sea but a door to the community.” Schembri-Sant is convinced that the local community is an additional attraction to the tourist offering, and will attract a tourist with greater spending power and interested in things outside of the hotels. The head of the Spanish chain, Occidental Hotels, has similar thoughts. Ventura Serra, the Occidental spokesperson told reporters that Occidental was re-launching Puerto Plata as a diversified tourist destination, something that will attract important segments of the North American tourist market .
The Coral by Hilton chain has just finished the construction of 179 new houses for a group of people that had been living above the rocks at Padre Nuestro in Bayahibe. Hilton also announced the opening later this year of the Hilton Santo Domingo, a 21 floor, 228 room hotel located in the Malecon Center.
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