After the Presidential speech last Sunday, a new set of traffic rules were laid out that were supposed to free up transit in the nation's capitol and other major cities. The small vehicles known as publicos that provide a service along specified routes were supposed to work on alternate days, according to whether their license plate numbers were odd or even. In addition, according to the address given by Fernandez, the real 'junk-heaps' still on the road were to be removed from service during the registration process to identify each vehicle with a different colored stripe or sticker, but this has not yet begun. According to Listin Diario, even the officials responsible for implementing the new regulations have not yet received any instructions. With more than 30,000 publicos circulating in Santo Domingo alone, the process of identifying each one is progressing very slowly. Both the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Technical Office for Ground Transport (AMET and OTTT) have issued orders that the entire registration process needs to be completed within the next fortnight. However, neither AMET nor the OTTT have been able to say when the new measures will be applied to the mass transit units that service Santo Domingo and other cities. German Pena Guadalupe, the head of the OTTT, told the reporters that San Pedro de Macoris and La Romana will begin the alternate day publico service next Monday. Yesterday, heavy equipment from the Public Works Ministry began tearing up the speed bumps along many streets. According to sources, the speed bumps in front of police stations, army installations, schools and hospitals will remain in place.
President Leonel Fernandez has called on the Organization of American States to take an active role in the current issues surrounding the oil crisis affecting the entire region. The chief executive warned that the increase in the cost of crude oil was creating social tensions that could destabilize and create political imbalance in the entire region. Fernandez maintained that the OAS should call on the international community to undertake the price of oil as an important, key issue for peace and security in the region. Fernandez was addressing the OAS assembly during the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of its founding.
Economist and former governor of the Central Bank of Chile, Roberto Zahler, is proposing some modifications to the laws governing monetary issues in the Dominican Republic. Specifically, he proposes changes to Law 183-02 that controls financial and monetary policies. He also proposed the adoption of standardized financial regulations by the Superintendent of Banks, and the application of reference interest rates for housing, all within a wide set of proposals that would make investment more attractive.
Zahler also proposed that mortgage paper be freed from the need to deposit reserve funds in the Central Bank, since this would permit, according to the Listin Diario, pension funds to invest in mortgage paper, something new in the Dominican financial scene. Zahler explained that mortgage paper needed to be handled in a special way, in order that in the case of one financial institution that purchased such paper being liquidated, the assets, liabilities and the stop on its credit pass on to another, more solvent institution, thus giving the paper even more guarantee for the consumer. The creation of the mortgage paper market could facilitate the construction of as many as 6000 new homes during the first year, and ten years down the line, as many as 80,000 new housing units would be created.
Yes, you read that right. The Superintendent of Electricity ordered the EDEs - electricity distribution companies - to return RD$25.7 million to clients who have formalized their complaints at the Superintendent of Electricity's Consumer Protection Office.
The claims deal with incorrect billing, illegal termination of service and other normal problems faced by consumers every day. The Consumer Protection Office receives about 1,000 complaints each month, and experience shows that 70% of the claims are proved to be valid. According to Listin Diario, the biggest culprit during August was EDE-Norte, which now has to credit its clients to the tune of RD$14.6 million. EDE-Este will credit its clients with RD$8.9 million, and EDE-Sur will do the same for RD$2.194 million. Between August 2004 and June 2005, the Superintendent's office has returned RD$171.9 million to clients of the different electric distribution companies.
A ministerial mission from the Dominican Republic will be meeting with the Paris Club today. The Paris Club is a forum of debtor and creditor nations that meets regularly to discuss ways and means of repayment and rescheduling of debts. The Dominican mission is looking to obtain a second rescheduling of some of its foreign debts. The mission, according to Diario Libre, is headed by the chief of the group of presidential economic advisors, Temistocles Montas, who is aided by financial consultant Ramon Tarrago and the coordinator of the IMF negotiations, Luis Reyes. Meetings are scheduled with financial officers from France and Spain with the intention of obtaining some restructuring of the current debts. Montas will also address the Conference for Promoting French Business, together with the Superintendent of Banks, Rafael Camilo, Julio Ortega Tous and the VP of the Banco Popular, Christopher Paniagua. Montas will talk about the investment atmosphere in the Dominican Republic and the role that the recent DR-CAFTA agreement will play.
In the face of growing suspicion in the Spanish press concerning poor treatment of visa seekers, and "irregular" hiring practices, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it is beginning an investigation into the allegations. According to Diario Libre, the investigators will look into whether there is a local "mafia" that issues visas. The investigation comes as a result of complaints filed by the local Council of Spanish Residents (CRE) and workers within the consulate itself. The allegations also refer to irregular hiring and firing of personnel. The Spanish consul general, Jorge Sanchez, confirmed the existence of the investigation and told Diario Libre reporters that he was awaiting the results. The allegations have made headlines in the Spanish press, and the articles talk about the control of the lines of people seeking visas and the changes in the process of giving appointments for visas. Previously, visa seekers were given appointments. However, the consul general seemed surprised about the comments made regarding the firing of personnel, and he vigorously denied any mistreatment of people seeking visas.
In a scene reminiscent of pictures from Kansas or New Orleans, large parts of Santiago were hit by a sudden tornado yesterday afternoon. Pictures of smashed vehicles (see Diario Libre), uprooted trees and trash-strewn streets were common. Power lines were blown down, signs toppled and traffic came to a standstill for nearly an hour. According to the La Informacion, the kiosks and displays for the Regional Book Fair set to open on Saturday were blown about and some were badly damaged. Francisco Arias, the local Civil Defense director reported that parts of Los Salados, Los Pepines, El Ensueno, La Herradura, La Loteria and the area around Estrella Sadhala Avenue and the Monument were reporting the worst damage. Falling trees and flying branches damaged or partly destroyed several cars. The Mega Vision television tower was knocked over by the winds. No human victims were reported, but a lot of cleaning up now remains to be done.
One of the nation's best kept secrets is now out in the open: Diandino Pena, current director of the new Office for the Reorganization of Transportation (OPRET), told reporters yesterday that the new mass transit system that the government is proposing will be a hybrid. He clarified that it will be a combination of the much-discussed Metro and what he called "trans-millennium" buses, units with 160-passenger capacity. He also mentioned light trains (possibly tramways) as part of the mix. According to Diario Libre, Decree 477-05 does not limit the Rapid Mass Transit System to these options. The first route will be the same as outlined earlier this year for the Metro: Villa Mella to the Centro de los Heroes (La Feria). A second stage will see the extension of the service to other areas of the city. The decree also calls for the start of rapid transit solutions for Santiago and other cities.
Yesterday, the Santiago municipal council approved a proposal that would create a rail-based mass transit system. According to La Informacion, the council gave a 50 year exclusive contract to the APD Consulting Company to manage the creation of the network of rail transport. Given the quick presentation and "approval" of the project, the PLD and many PRD council members walked out of the session in protest.
Since another part of Pena's brief is to coordinate the transportation sector, including AMET, OTTT, and OMSA, the decree has met with stiff resistance from transportation union leaders. In Hoy, the three principal union leaders called the decision to put Pena at the head of the sector an entelechy - a philosophical term that means "actuality as opposed to potential". The union leaders said that the new post would only serve to clutter up and enlarge the bureaucracy. In fact, according to Hoy, Antonio Marte, CONATRA, Ramon Perez Figuereo CNTU and Juan Hubieres FENETRANO considered the OPRET creation to be "nonsense" that will do nothing to assist the transportation sector.
A mission from the Inter-American Investment Corporation, a branch of the World Bank, will be visiting the Dominican Republic next month with the idea of listening to the business community about their investment needs and, at the same time, show the business leader just what areas the corporation is capable of assisting. The general manager of the CII, Jaques Rogozinski, gave this information in Washington, and said that the DR was capable of absorbing up to 15% of the credit portfolio which is currently at US$750 million. According to a report from the organizers of the Dominican Week in the United States, Rogozinsky said that the Dominican private sector would need support in facing the challenges of the DR-CAFTA in a competitive manner. Rogozinski cited tourism, free zones, agro-business, energy and housing as areas that were interesting to the CII for channeling investments.
Juan Hernandez, the head of the Internal Revenue office, has said that many hotels have offshore businesses established in tax havens, and this impedes the transparency of their operations in the Dominican Republic. The official explained to reporters from El Caribe that some of the businessmen in the hotel sector utilize a "triangulation" method by which they establish companies in tax-free locations, in order to sell tourist packages to the Dominican Republic, and then report just half of the price that they get for the tourist package to Internal Revenue. Hernandez said that the proposal to set VAT for the hotel sector at 8% is just not possible, because with the prices that the all-inclusives are declaring to the Internal Revenue office, they have no competition. He said, "With the Dominican Republic there is no way to compete. First for the quality of its people and (second) the price of the package, this, of course, if we accept that in Puerto Plata with US$23 dollars a night you can have a great time in a hotel, or for US$40 dollars, on average, is what the hotels in the East are declaring."
Distance learning, pioneered in the Dominican Republic by Radio Santa Maria in La Vega, has come nearly full circle. The radio, part of the Catholic Church, will begin offering classes at the high school level beginning on 3 October as part of its answer to the growing demand for high school diplomas. Founded more than 34 years ago and with 25,000 adult graduates to its credit, Radio Santa Maria has taught people all over the country how to read and write, add and subtract. Now, beginning in Santo Domingo and the Cibao Valley, the radio will begin classes for the first year of high school, according to Elias Concepcion, the head of Radio School for Secondary Education for the Radio Santa Maria. The first year program will last for nine months and a new class will be added every year. Enrollment is now open in Santiago, La Vega, San Francisco de Macoris, Moca, Bonao, Puerto Plata, Cotui, Jarabacoa, Maimon and Esperanza. The classes will be broadcast on Radio Santa Maria FM 97.9 and Radio Juventud Don Bosco AM 1640. In order to enroll, a student must have the certificate for the eighth grade national tests, a 2"x 2" photo, a legalized birth certificate, a copy of their "cedula" a medical certificate of good health and the payment of a small fee.
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