Approximately 100,000 people, including volunteers, members of the military, police agents and firefighters, have been recruited to promote safety at Christmas, as part of the National Emergency Commission's undertaking. Some 2,000 posts have been placed at strategic points, and some 300 ambulances are available to assist people in trouble.
The CNE has also announced that circulation of heavy trucks and equipment will be limited from 6am on 24 December through 6am on 26 December, and again from 6am on 30 December through 6am on 2 January. Only vehicles transporting fuel and food products with due authorization will be allowed to circulate.
The National Emergency Commission (CNE) announced yesterday that it is prohibiting the installation of tents and vending stalls for the sale of fireworks. These points of sale have cropped up all around the city, primarily in upscale neighborhoods. Likewise, fireworks are being set off every evening in a fiesta season that has started early. The vending outlets are primarily staffed by young people who can be seen drinking and smoking while waiting for clients.
Jose Luis German, the CNE spokesman, said that detonation of the fireworks is only permitted on the evenings of Christmas Eve (24 December), New Year's Eve (31 December) and Three Kings Day (6 January). German said they are applying the measure following an order issued by the Santo Domingo mayor's office.
President Leonel Fernandez resumed the National Merit Scholarship Program that honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability. The students are invited to the Presidential Palace, where the President himself will award them with their prizes. During his previous administration, the selected students received computers. During the awards ceremony, President Fernandez encouraged the students to take control of their own development and acknowledged that the role of the state is not only to guarantee education, but also to offer quality education.
During the event that marked the reinstatement of the program that had been discontinued by the Mejia government, President Leonel Fernandez, First Lady Margarita Cedeno, Education Minister Alejandrina German and Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque received 183 outstanding students of elementary and middle schools.
Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso traveled yesterday to El Salvador to participate in the 25th meeting of heads of state and government members of the Sistema de Integracion Centroamericana y Republica Dominicana that opens Wednesday in San Salvador. President Leonel Fernandez had been originally scheduled to attend, but delegated in Morales Troncoso to take his place after extending his previous stay in the United States.
The National Theater announced yesterday that its air conditioning system is up and working. The Fernandez government authorized the installation of a 150-ton new unit worth US$925,000, supplied by Prieto Nouel Electromecanica, SA. The company guarantees the unit for one year and a maintenance contract was signed. In its final months, the Mejia administration had authorized RD$8 million in repairs to the previous system, despite which the unit never chilled adequately and the National Symphony Orchestra was forced to relocate to the Casa San Pablo. Culture Minister Jose Rafael Lantigua says that lawyers are currently reviewing the case because of apparent irregularities detected in the use of the RD$8-million investment to repair the system that eventually collapsed and obliged the closure of the most important hall in the Dominican Republic. The new unit will be premiered during the Christmas Concert organized by the office of the First Lady, this evening, 15 December.
Eduardo Tejera presented his credentials to Governor General Adrienne Clarkson at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, as he becomes the Dominican Repbulic's new ambassador to Canada. Tejera, who replaces the outgoing Eduardo Fernandez, traveled to Canada with his wife, lawyer Ana Isabel Messina, and children, Adriana and Sebastian. Tejera is an economist and business consultant.
The Association of Commercial Banks of the Dominican Republic reported yesterday that the average interest rate on loans has dropped 10% in the past six months, as reported in the Listin Diario. Furthermore, yields on certificates of deposit have remained stable at approximately 21%. The average interest rate for business loans in April-May was reportedly 35%, which then declined to 32% in November 2004. The average rate for personal loans declined from 38% six months ago to 35% in November.
See http://www.bancentral.gov.do/estadisticas.asp?a=Tasas_de_Inter%e9s
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) voided personal documents (birth, marriage and death certificates) that had been detected as forged documents, according to JCE president Luis Arias. He said they would bring 10 employees to justice under charges of forgery. He confirmed there had been alterations made to seven books and 48 folios of the civil registry. Prosecutor Adrilia Vales Dalmasi, who is working on the case on behalf of the District Attorney, had originally reported the existence of irregularities to the president of the Supreme Court of Justice in a communication dated 29 June 2000.
Arias said that the investigation would not remain at an administrative level and told the Listin Diario that the cases of the individuals under suspicion would be sent to court.
The Ministry of Environment has revoked an environmental permit to build that had been granted to the resort called the Bavaro Beach and Golf Resort in the La Altagracia province. The 300-room, 269-villa resort was being erected based on a license (No. 0043-03) signed by former Deputy Minister Rene Ledesma, despite two differing opinions from the technical departments of the Ministry. The technicians determined that the resort was incompatible with the maintenance of the protected area of the lagoon. As reported in El Caribe, the decision will affect the construction being performed by Compresores, Equipos e Ingenieria (Compreica) in the area of Bavaro. The Ministry of Environment says that the construction of a 1.8-km road caused severe damages to the fauna and wildlife sanctuary near the Bavaro Lagoon. Daneris Santana, the deputy minister of protected areas and biodiversity, said that Resolution 012-2004, which is dated 8 December, establishes that the road construction presents a serious threat to the local environment and that civil and penal responsibilities should be established in the case.
The Central Bank disputes the sales contract signed by the previous authorities with a group known as Playa Grande Holdings. Originally, there had been talk of the Kohler Corporation buying into the North Coast development, but sources indicate that Kohler has nothing to do with the group interested in the valuable property. The Central Bank announced that it aims to cancel the US$43-million sales contract completely and indicated that a foreign company had offered US$83 million for the same eight million square meter property that includes the famous Playa Grande Golf Course. A source within the Ministry of Finance told Listin Diario that two weeks ago the Central Bank's management sent a communique to the company giving it 60 days to reopen talks regarding the contract. According to the source, in addition to the ridiculously low sales price, the Central Bank says the deal ignored certain commitments, particularly when it included property that had already been granted by the Monetary Board to the Banco Nacional de la Vivienda in the terms of the sale. The Playa Grande property has been on the market since 1997. The Central Bank announced the sale on 16 July, but did not disclose the identities of the company's principals. The Listin Diario says that if the buyer does not accept the renegotiation of the contract, they will take the case to an international court to seek its rescindment.
The Ministry of Environment has issued an order to prevent the operation of the "house of terror" located at Paseo de los Locutores, near Winston Churchill Avenue, from opening. David La Hoz of the Ministry sided with neighbors, who have complained about the high level of noise emanating from the new spot that has yet to be opened to the public. Environment officials confiscated audio equipment from the haunted house citing sound pollution, a matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment. The house sits next door to the home of late President Juan Bosch, whose current residents along with 40 other neighbors signed a petition to stop the attraction from operating.
The Comision de Espectaculos Publicos y Radiofonia, however, has issued an authorization to revoke any decision to the contrary, according to the public relations spokesperson for the new entertainment center. That same day, the press had been invited to tour the establishment and did so, but without the sound effects.
San Jose de Ocoa will be the first town in the Dominican Republic to implement worm composting to reduce the amount of garbage generated and put the garbage to good use. Engineer Victor Polanco, the winner of a US$4,500 Ford Foundation award for environmental conservation, is implementing his plan in the La Cienaga de Naranjal municipality. He envisions the treatment of 10-15 tons of garbage a month in this vicinity, with operations to be expanded subsequently to the five municipalities in the province of San Jose de Ocoa. He explained that the farm community generates lots of organic wastes that are burned. Instead of burning them or throwing them into nearby rivers, which harms the environment, the garbage will be classified and treated. The project will cost RD$300,000, according to a report in El Caribe, and will depend on a sufficient flow of refuse in order to be successful. Polanco says the organic fertilizer produced through the program will be sold for use in area farms.
See http://www.elcaribe.com.do/articulo_multimedios.aspx?id=35129
Father Gustavo Carles Lazo, the director of the Los Peralejos parochial school, criticized the fact that more money is being invested in the Armed Forces than in education, and the country is not at war, reports Hoy newspaper. "It is sad that in this country so many millions are invested in the Armed Forces and not in education, when there is no one to fight and the nation will not be called on to participate in a world war," said the cleric. He also criticized the politicization of Dominican education, commenting that public schools are sometimes paralyzed so that political gatherings may be held and that some school directors are appointed through political ties when they know nothing about teaching and do not even hold a university degree. The director of the Colegio Parroquial Nuestra Senora de Lourdes of Los Peralejos said that those who direct educational institutions do not have the vocation to teach and that teaching has become just another job. He said that what we have now are instructors of learning, not educators: "The big problem in this country is that education is politicized. Politicians are put in the posts, not people who know about education."
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