In an address to the press yesterday, President Leonel Fernandez said that one of the government's goals for next year is the creation of half a million new jobs, according to a reports in the local press. He expects the economy to grow by more than 9% - "one of the highest growth rates in the whole world and probably the highest in Latin America". Fernandez was speaking at the Presidential Palace as part of his 52nd birthday celebrations. He stated that when he left office in 2000, unemployment stood at 13%, and in 2004 it reached 19%. According to the President, it is unacceptable and senseless to speak about economic growth if it is not accompanied by an improvement in the wellbeing of the ordinary citizen.
Former Dominican ambassador in Washington, DC, Bernardo Vega speculates in an op-ed contribution in El Caribe newspaper that it is almost certain that the US Trade Representative office will announce that El Salvador, and possibly also Nicaragua have met with the requirements for entering DR-CAFTA and will begin to benefit from the treaty. He comments that President Leonel Fernandez has decided to maintain the 13% exchange commission on imports and postpone the DR's fulfillment of the requirements to implement the treaty until July, including the intellectual property law, and incongruities regarding Law 173 for the representation of foreign companies.
He speculates that come July there is the possibility that the government may lobby for increased taxation with a second reform bill, hoping that the May 2006 congressional election may bring more PLD men and women to Congress, or an increase in tax collections, or a reduction in government spending.
Vega commends El Salvador for hiring legal counsel to get the head start and be ready to start CAFTA on their part.
Meanwhile, he writes that while the DR will continue to enjoy the benefits of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, apparel producers in El Salvador and Nicaragua will have an advantage over us that will lead to investments being diverted in that direction.
He also says that unfortunately, the Dominican government will be able to continue buying and building without obligatory tenders and the general climate for foreign investment will be less attractive than it would have been had we entered DR-CAFTA at the start.
He comments that the exchange commission plus the tariff that will be applied on American products over the next six months add up to RD$6.8 billion. He speculates that if the tax collections exceed current estimates, it will be time to eliminate the commission and move ahead with DR-CAFTA. "We do not gain anything whatsoever by postponing our participation in free trade," he concludes.
Diario Libre announces that the Fernandez government is giving priority to several mega projects. These include the allocation of RD$1.8 billion to the construction of the rapid-transport system entrusted to the newly created Oficina para el Reordenamiento del Transporte (OPRET) headed by engineer Diandino Pena. This is in addition to the RD$725 million assigned in the 2005 budget. As Domingo Abreu reports in Hoy newspaper, the metro's original US$326.6 million cost has increased to US$700 million in less than a year, with the km/unit cost going from US$32.6 million in February 2005 to US$50 million by December 2005.
Despite reports that PRD congressmen would not vote in favor of the metro budget, work has continued at a fast pace on the underground tunnels for the first line of the rapid transport system connecting Villa Mella with Ave. Maximo Gomez, causing traffic problems along this main commercial avenue.
Yesterday, PRD deputies asked that funds allocated to the construction of the Metro in the 2006 Budget - approximately RD$1.835 billion - should be withdrawn from the project. According to Diario Libre, a spokesman for the PRD believes that this is not a priority for the country and that those resources could be allocated to municipalities, health and education.
For his part, PRSC deputy Ramon Rogelio Genao has said the budget should be thoroughly analyzed, not only in the amounts assigned to the Metro, but also the revisions in allocations to education and health. "The fact that this amount of money is included for a project that is not considered a priority by the population, reflects the present authorities' style of government, and embarking on the project without resources assigned in the current budget shows the way that this government acts", said Genao.
Other mega projects are the electricity highway from Santo Domingo-Santiago, the Coral highway linking San Pedro de Macoris with Higuey, the expansion of the San Cristobal-Bani highway, the northern bypass highway around Santiago, aqueducts in Higuey, Nagua, the northwest and Barahona-Bahoruco. Others include the Pinalito hydroelectric project and the Azua II irrigation channel.
PRSD president Hatuey De Camps has said that in spite of the possible electoral alliance being negotiated with PLD, he will not support the construction of the Metro. Any alliance achieved must be made on the basis of a program agreement that includes the organic separation of the two political parties. De Camps made these comments on Diario Libre AM and stated that the best option for tackling the Haitian immigration problem is to formalize trade relations with Haiti in the border region, with the cooperation of all nations committed to helping the neighboring country.
Rafael Miolan, spokesman for the Novo Mundo Siglo XXI, the promoters of Santo Domingo's artificial island, has said that the estimated one million meters of landfill material would come from 160 mines in the National District. He defended the quality of initial environmental studies carried out by Spanish firm Iberinsa, and said that there would be no damage to the coastline because there is no longer any life on the seabed. The contract sent to Congress, businessmen connected to the project and the concept of the island that would replace the sea-view along the Malecon, have all been under fire locally.
During the first 10 months of 2005, Dominican exports grew to US$860 million - an 18.5% increase compared to the same period in 2004 - according to the Center for Exports and Investments (CEI-RD), as reported by El Caribe. The increase is attributed to the US economy's 4.4% recovery during 2004 and the foreign trade policy in anticipation of the FTA with the US market and Central America, generating greater dynamism in the productive and export sectors. Figures provided do not include free zone exports.
The government is enjoying a cash bonanza as a result of record import and export tax collections, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Customs director Miguel Cocco says that these collections have surpassed the amounts projected as part of the stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. He said that collections have reached RD$36.7 billion - RD$3.3 billion over target.
According to the Commercial Bank Association's Quarterly Bulletin, this sector's assets have increased to RD$290.3 billion from January to September 2005, as reported by El Caribe. This amount represents an absolute increase of RD$36.6 billion and a relative increase of 14.43% compared to 2004. This growth has permitted the satisfactory recovery of intermediation in economic activities, which grew from 32.6% in December 2004 to 38.9% in September 2005. The bulletin points out that it is worth noting that this increase in assets is not accompanied by an equally significant increase in the loans portfolio, as the latter shows a relative growth of 6.4%, from RD$124.7 million in December 2004 to RD$132.7 in September 2005.
The government opened the Los Alcarrizos crossing to traffic in time for the Christmas holiday on Friday, 23 December. The four-lane overpass is 1,200 meters long and 19 meters wide and is said to have cost RD$550 million. An estimated 80,000 vehicles cross over that point each day. Construction on the overpass began at the start of the Fernandez government and has been completed in nine months time.
Engineer Jose Modesto, president of Grupo Modesto has announced that work is progressing on the 28-km San Cristobal highway expansion to add a lane in each direction, and space for two more lanes in the future. A 12.5km bypass highway is being built so that through traffic can avoid the city of Bani. He announced that the expansion should be completed by early 2007.
Clave Digital reports that the Ministry of Public Works has budgeted RD$$108.5 million for repairing a 1.5km stretch of Ave. Gustavo Mejia Ricart between Nunez de Caceres and Luperon Avenues, that is said to be in good condition. The online publication highlights that the amount budgeted exceeds the RD$91 million allotted for repaving streets in the provinces of San Cristobal and Bani.
The Ministry of Public Works has warned that unscrupulous people are charging more than RD$2,000 for fake driver's licenses. Deputy Minister Mario Holguin, who is in charge of the Transit Department, asked citizens not to let themselves be swindled as the false document is not valid, and will be seized by authorities as soon as it is detected. Holguin said that driver's licenses are issued quickly, efficiently and at a moderate cost, without intermediaries. Licenses are issued at the Ground Transit Department, as well as at Multicentro Churchill, on Winston Churchill Avenue, Multicentro La Sirena, on Charles de Gaulle Avenue, and in Azua, Santiago, and La Romana.
More than 120 firefighters worked throughout the Christmas holiday to control a fire believed to have been caused by a bonfire left behind by men hunting wild pigs in the Pelempito area of Pedernales. The firefighters' work was made harder by the drought that is affecting the area. Environment Minister Max Puig said that the fire will not affect the forests in the Pelempito area, and that it was concentrated in the lowland shrubs prior to being extinguished over the holiday. The fire affected over 125 hectares of shrubs, according to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Miguel Abreu. It was under control by Saturday afternoon.
A woman from Villa Mella has given birth to sextuplets in Plaza de la Salud. Maxima Perez, who suffers from sickle-cell anemia and already has a five-year-old girl, gave birth by Caesarian section to three boys and three girls at 1 pm on Monday, 26 December. Diario Libre reports that the babies are one and a half months premature, and weighed between 120 and 800 grams. Due to her health condition, the mother had received two blood transfusions during her pregnancy. According to Dr. Jou Fernandez, the babies are in good health. The medical center will provide special assistance for the children for some time as the mother is from a low-income family. A bulletin informing of the babies' and mother's condition will be released at 10am today by the physicians who performed the surgery. This is reportedly the first time that sextuplets have been born in the DR, according to Dr. Fernandez.
El Caribe reports that only one of the babies needed to be put on a respirator. All the babies are under observation and continuous monitoring.
The final Christmas report from the Center for Emergency Operations (COE) indicates that 26 people died during the 23-25 December Christmas holiday. This is down from 33 deaths over the same period in 2004. 359 were reported injured (last year there were 350 injuries reported). Of the total, 324 were injured in traffic accidents and 35 suffered injuries due to fireworks. Last year, there were 16 injuries caused by fireworks. Most of the deaths were in traffic accidents, 12 died due to knife or gunshot wounds, two adults were killed by stray bullets, and another two died as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
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