President Leonel Fernandez, speaking to an audience of followers and community leaders in Cotui, the capital of Sanchez Ramirez province, said that he was sick and tired of the government's public works contractors doing slipshod work. He said that many contractors would finish a job and within a short time the highway, bridge or other structure would need important repair work or total reconstruction and the same contractor would be hired to re-do the same poor work.
El Caribe newspaper reports that Fernandez did not name any particular construction firms, but he did say that the government would be much more vigilant in awarding future contracts. He called the situation a "vicious circle."
The newspaper pointed out that the President's chief assistant, Danilo Perez, was busy handing out little yellow envelopes with RD$500 inside, to the throngs of people outside the small sports complex where the event took place. The same scene was repeated in the five provinces the President visited. First a medical brigade held public checkups and carried out primary health care, then food was distributed and finally school supplies were handed out. Then, the President made his appearance, while his associates distributed funds, and the local development boards were sworn in. Work brigades from the electricity company worked on the transmission lines wherever the President was scheduled to visit and electrical power was restored, according to the paper, where there had been no power.
President Leonel Fernandez recently announced that the government would be issuing a decree requiring tenders for the construction of all public works and contracting, especially for the Ministry of Public Works. The Coalition for Transparency has campaigned for this to be introduced. Ditto the Citizens Forum (Foro Ciudadano) and the recently established National Commission for Ethics and Fight against Corruption has also backed the decree. Rafael Molina Morillo, in his column in Hoy newspaper today, comments: "Now, is it to be expected that he who has the power to distribute the bread and the fish resign voluntarily this prerogative? Our wish is for Mr. President to surprise us."
President Leonel Fernandez has sent a contract to the Senate whereby the government would sell the Sans Souci area and its environs to a private company for the development of a sea-fronting real estate project. The company, Constructora Inversiones Turisticas Sans Souci, represented by Lisandro Macarulla, was handpicked by the government for the private development. El Dia newspaper reports that the money will be paid in the form of investments that the company is to build in the area. The newspaper says that the company would be responsible for the construction of a building for the Navy, the dredging and clean up of the port area, construction of 10,000 square meters of plazas and commercial areas and the expansion and repair of the breakwater at the entrance to the port. It also includes the construction of a new Sans Souci Avenue, a floating bridge, and the Sans Souci beach club, as well as provision of parking areas. El Dia says that the company will be investing US$37 million. The Fernandez government signed the contract on 3 June 2005.
The mega-project includes the construction of hotels, convention centers, real estate projects, a 500-yacht sports marina, as well as parks and walkways. As announced by Jorge Suncar, public relations director for the project, 100 12-storey residential buildings with a total of 1,000 apartments will make up the real estate portion of the revitalization and expansion of the Santo Domingo port project, which will also include a 200-room business hotel. The residential part would be built along Ave. Espana, and the hotel will be on the eastern side, with access to the beach at Sans Souci. The beach will be dredged and conditioned for use. The project will be developed in several phases, the first being directed to the improvement of the port. The second phase will be to renegotiate with cruise liners to attract tourism by sea to Santo Domingo, whereas the real estate development will be done later, in about 24 months. Total investment in the project is estimated at US$400 million.
There will be no savings in the Fernandez government negotiation of the Union
Fenosa debt, according to research by the Energy Commission of the PRD, which says that once interest payments are added on the country will end up paying a similar amount over ten years to what the former Mejia administration had already negotiated, and the PLD and Fernandez government officers had much criticized. The PRD government renegotiated the debt to pay US$586.8 million over ten years. The Fernandez government has now agreed to a payment of US$570 million at the end of the ten years, with an immediate cash payment of US$300 million to Union Fenosa, and taking on of sovereign debt at 9% for ten years. The commission says it is not true that savings of US$300 million have been secured. Making matters worse, as reported in Hoy newspaper, reports that for 2.86% to 22% savings (depending on the yield of the bonds), the government will assume the financial risks of the debt and frees Union Fenosa from these responsibilities. The commission states that what the government has not mentioned is that at present the Union Fenosa debt is commercial, with the risks that are involved, and are therefore taken on by Union Fenosa. For instance, if the distributors go bankrupt, then Union Fenosa would have lost its capital. With the new deal negotiated in Spain, Union Fenosa is the big winner. The government, with the approval of the multilateral financial organizations (World Bank, IDB, AID, IMF), converts the commercial debt to sovereign debt and is fully responsible for its payment. The PRD commission warns that this would unnecessarily increase the country's sovereign debt.
The key negotiator for the government, Julio Ortega, at the time chief of economic advisors to the President, recently was appointed ambassador at the service of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
The International Monetary Fund has a team in the Dominican Republic to review the progress of the stand-by arrangement. The two-week long visit includes looking into the 2006 projections for Dominican economic recovery. According to Listin Diario, the team has found some positive aspects, but they are expressing concern about the real possibility that the electricity sector will report greater losses than expected. The electricity sector is being looked at not only by the IMF, but also by the World Bank, which is financing efforts to obtain better financial results in electricity distribution and production. Bill collection was a major point during the meeting of IMF and WB officials who also looked at crude oil futures and the possible effect on the local electricity market. A study given to the IMF technical team pointed out that the key piece in the electricity sector's financial jigsaw puzzle was the cost structure, especially how costs were structured in the generation sub-sector. A major discussion point was bill collection that, according to sources, "was not going as well as expected." The technicians are having trouble squaring up the US$300 million capital injection intended to assist in the sector's recovery. Even though the government had signed a Letter of Intent with the IMF that stated that the subsidy to the electric sector would not go beyond US$350 million, the authorities announced an additional US$60 million contribution for the distributors to purchase more energy from the generators in April.
While the IMF teams are looking over the books, the electricity distributors are asking the Government for an additional US$116 million in order to complete the electricity subsidy. This would be in addition to the US$350 million already on the table and approved by the IMF. Rising oil prices are given as the basis for the request. Meanwhile, metropolitan Santo Domingo suffered another blackout when Itabo II and Haina II both went off line, taking their 150 megawatts with them. The system has still not recovered from the three prolonged blackouts that occurred last weekend. The negotiating team of Fernando Filpo and Rodolfo Cabello presented an evaluation of oil market trends and price increases over the last several months. Rising oil prices have increased distributors' bills by 50%, according to the negotiators. The team also requested the complete restructuring of the electricity sector's general recovery plan with the World Bank and the IMF. The government had promised to reduce the deficit produced by the government's support for electricity consumers in economically depressed areas from US$650 million down to US$350 million. In April, according to the paper, President Fernandez announced a US$100 million addition to the subsidy program, but it was never disbursed, and of the total US$350 million that was agreed upon, there is only US$75 million left to be paid out. The unbalancing of the subsidy program is attributed to the rising cost of crude oil. When the program was initiated, crude prices were around US$37 per barrel, but current price quotes put the cost of a barrel at almost US$66.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations has revoked the official passports granted to spouses and children of aldermen nationwide. Diario Libre reported that at least 15 aldermen from southwestern provinces are under investigation and suspect of selling passports for RD$150,000-RD$200,000 to 20 women that have traveled to Europe over the past three weeks. The authorities at the Las Americas International Airport alerted of the situation and called for an investigation after Air Europa refused to board three women that would travel to Italy. Officers at the Department of Migration are also under investigation for authorizing the departure of the suspect women, as reported in Diario Libre.
The Ministry ordered the cancellation of all passports issued to wives and children of aldermen from August 2002.
Gabriel Castro, who presides the city councilors hall in Santo Domingo, protested the decision and said that the Ministry should have investigated the suspect cases instead of issuing an order that has affected all.
The insurance industry, represented by the Dominican Chamber of Brokers (CADOAR) has flatly rejected the proposal put forward by several senators that would place a consumer tax on insurance. The CADOAR spokesperson said that this sort of tax would be a "very hard blow to the sector" since they were in a shrinking market that had already reported a 10% decline in 2005. According to the organization, insurance is especially susceptible to increased costs, which tend to push clients to look for insurance from outside the Dominican Republic. As reported by Hoy, the insurance people are worried by the increasing purchase of lower cost insurance policies in the United States. The CADOAR pointed out that the government could lose important income if some of the larger customers decide to reinsure their policies in the US.
The transport unions have announced a fare hike of between RD$3.00 or RD$4.00, depending on the route. Only the government-supported OMSA has said that they would keep bus fares at RD$5.00 and RD$10.00. The rising cost of diesel fuel was given as the reason for the price increases. All buses belonging to the CONATRA, CNTU and FENATRANO unions will apply the new rates. Union leaders Antonio Marte, Ramon Perez Figuereo and Juan Hubieres all gave the rising cost of diesel fuel as the only reason for the new fares. The spokesmen also said that if diesel continues to go up, so will the bus fares. They said that fares to cities outside Santo Domingo would go up between RD$5.00 and RD$10.00 depending on the distance to be traveled. In an interesting aside, the director of the Metropolitan Office of Bus Service (OMSA) Ignacio Ditren, revealed that public transport consumes 32 % of the nation's fuel and electricity production consumes 38%. What is surprising is that Ditren said that of the fuel used in transportation, 53% was consumed by motorcycles, 32% by automobiles and 14% by heavy-goods vehicles.
The personal fortune of leading transport union director, Antonio Marte is at RD$113 million, according to a credit report filed on occasion of ongoing investigations to prepare the Plan Renove court case. Diario Libre reported that the money is in savings accounts, savings certificates, and term deposits. Furthermore, the Confederacion Nacional del Transporte (CONATRA) that he oversees has bank accounts worth RD$35 million. The case for fraud against the state will be heard by Judge Esther Agelan Casasnovas. CONATRA is one of the leading beneficiaries of the program whereby the Mejia administration took on commercial bank loans abroad to finance new vehicles and other items for the beneficiaries in the name of improving public transport in the DR.
The small town of Tamboril, a center for tobacco processing and cigar manufacturing 15 kilometers east of Santiago de los Caballeros, was hit hard by a flash flood caused by torrential rainfall last Monday. According to newspaper accounts, the rain started at 5:30 in the afternoon, and at 6 pm, dogs started barking as if warning that something was about to happen. The normally tiny Licey River started to rise and soon burst its banks, filling streets and houses with muddy water. Civil Defense and firemen from Santiago and other communities rushed to Tamboril and started evacuation procedures, but entire portions of the town were cut off by the waters and several bridges were washed away. The municipal park in the middle of town was turned into a lake, a school was destroyed along with 1,770 houses that were totally or partially damaged. Dozens of cows, goats, pigs and poultry were lost as well. Transportation between Moca and Tamboril was cut, and the San Victor, Canca and Carlos Diaz neighborhoods were isolated by the once-in-a-century flood. Several lives were lost but the authorities do not have exact numbers at the moment. Civil Defense, the water corporation, Public Health and Public Works have all sent technicians to begin the recovery process.
A heavily armed three-man gang has attacked and robbed a branch of the Popular Savings and Loan Association in Santo Domingo's Cristo Rey barrio. The thieves killed the guard on duty and made off with half a million pesos.
In San Francisco de Macoris, just a few hours after the President's visit, thieves made off with RD$400,000 and several firearms after a raid on an exchange house.
In the Villa Juana area of Santo Domingo, four hoodlums shot and killed 19 year old Brauli Bautista Solano (Rolito), allegedly over a personal dispute. The four were identified only as "Brilli", "El Bocon", Luis Alfredo Amparo Aguero (Chonchon) and Paul. The young man was walking down Francisco Villaespesa street when the four approached him and shot him before running away.
In the San Francisco robbery, which took place at 12:40 in the afternoon, the three men entered the savings and loan office on Nicolas de Ovando near the corner of Ortega y Gasset brandishing firearms and yelling "This is a hold-up! (expletive)!" According to Listin Diario, most employees hit the floor, and the office manager came out of his office asking what the fuss was about. With a weapon to his face, the manager handed over the cash and the robbers left.
The Dominican Republic is seeking to win a slot to the 2006 World Basketball Games in Japan when it matches nine other countries from the Americas in the Pre-World Basketball Championship that opens today at the Virgilio Travieso Soto Basketball Palace in Santo Domingo. The The FIBA-Americas Championship Games will take place from 24-28 August.
Group A will consist of Panama, US, Venezuela, Brazil and Canada. The DR will play in Group B against Uruguay, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Argentina.
The teams are opting for the four slots in the World Games scheduled for 2006 in Japan. Argentina's participation has already been secured. The DR's Pre-World Championship Games schedule is: August 24: Uruguay vs. DR; August 26: DR vs. Mexico, Aug. 27: Puerto Rico vs. DR; Aug. 28: DR vs. Argentina. The best four teams of each group will pass to the second round of the tournament.
The Dominican team members are Luis Flores, Luis Felipe Lopez, Francisco Garcia (Sacramento Kings, NBA), Jack Michael Martinez, Amaury Fillon, Marlon Martinez, Jaime Peterson, Otto Vantroy, Andy Williams, Jose Vargas, Joel Ramirez and nationalized Dominican Josh Asselin. The Dominican team is directed by Keith Smart (Golden State Warriors assistant coach), Fernando Teruel and Jose Dominguez.
See http://www.fibaamericas.com to follow the games online.
Six Dominicans placed DR-made music among the 6th Latin Grammy Awards to be announced by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles on 3 November. "The Latin GRAMMYs recognizes musical excellence while spotlighting the very best in Latin music from around the world," said Latin Recording Academy President Gabriel Abaroa.
In the Best Merengue Album category, Los Toros Band (En Vivo 2004), Kinito Mendez (Celebra Conmigo), Ramon Orlando (Generaciones) and Tono Rosario (Resistire) made the grade. In the Best Contemporary Tropical Album category, Monchy & Alexandra (Hasta El Fin) were nominated. For Best Tropical Song and Best Christian Album, Juan Luis Guerra (Para Ti) is listed. The performers are nominated for recordings released between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2005.
See http://www.grammy.com/awards/latin_grammy/6th_Latin_Noms.aspx
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008. DR1. All Rights Reserved.