I was in Samana this past week and wanted to check on some things for myself.
In case you were not aware, the Samana - Las Terrenas highway has apparently been completed for about a year now and is a real pleasure to drive. Makes the 50 kms or so trip quick and enjoyable. That only took what, 15 years?
Secondly, I went to El Catey airport construction site to see if anything at all is going on there. There are 3 large excavation machines at work digging out the runway. The future runway is clearly visible and runs parallel to the highway. They are digging out the weak "soil" and will fill the space with rocksl so that the runway will literally not sink. I was told by one of the engineers there that the machines have been at work for a couple of months and that they were shut down for several months - basically since the collapse of Baninter and the freezing of the IDB $150 million loan guarantee to Aerodom. I read into the conversation that Aerodom is basically going on a hunch that the IDB loan guarantee financing will eventually come through; and that in the meantime they will continue working at minimum staff and cost so that not all the time will be lost from temporary abandonment of the project to hopefully its full recommencement.
Thirdly, according to a staff member of new Bank of Nova Scotia in Nagua (they have taken over the old Baninter in Nagua and I assume they closed their former Nagua branch), they will take over Baninter in Las Tarrenas and in Samana, but will not take over Baninter Las Galeras. They expect their new branches to be open by January 2004.
Finally, I was not able to get any clear indication of what is going on with the Santo Domingo > Samana highway. I visited Las Americas Airport and could see no clear, specific evidence of where the highway begins. If someone could enlighten me as to how many kms from Santo Domingo the highway begins, then I could revisit at Christmas and confirm the status. I heard rumours that the project has been abandoned, but also from residents of Santo Domingo that they are still at work. The engineer from El Catey had no clear knowledge of the status of the highway, but he seems to have summed it up best by stating that the whole development of the region depends on the airport. One can therefore assume that if the present impasse between the IMF and the DR gov't over the repurchase of the electric companies is not bridged, thereby cancelling the loan from the IMF to the DR and consequently the loan guarantee from the IDB to Aerodom, that the El Catey airport and Santo Domingo - Samana highway projects will be cancelled for the forseeable future i.e. many, many years.
As a person with a financial stake in the Samana region, even I would accept that the IMF and IDB would be best to put the loan and loan guarantee respectively on hold until a new government is formed in the Spring of 2004 because we all know where the money will go if the present government has the money in its hands before the election; and we'll sink even lower than we thought possible.
I was very saddened to see how bad the economy is. My wife and I visited Megacentro and Diamond Mall and so many stores have shut down or are leaving. In both of those big malls on a Thursday afternoon there could not have been more than 20 shoppers visible at any one time. If that is an indication of the economy in general, then it is very bad.
It amazes me to no end how the people seem helpless in the face of corruption. And I suppose they are helpless in many ways, though they did elect this scoundrel. But it starts from the top; and it will take an extra-ordinary leader to clean up this financial mess, the result of greedy politicians enriching themselves with no regard to their own country or their fellow citizens. That's my rant for the day.
In case you were not aware, the Samana - Las Terrenas highway has apparently been completed for about a year now and is a real pleasure to drive. Makes the 50 kms or so trip quick and enjoyable. That only took what, 15 years?
Secondly, I went to El Catey airport construction site to see if anything at all is going on there. There are 3 large excavation machines at work digging out the runway. The future runway is clearly visible and runs parallel to the highway. They are digging out the weak "soil" and will fill the space with rocksl so that the runway will literally not sink. I was told by one of the engineers there that the machines have been at work for a couple of months and that they were shut down for several months - basically since the collapse of Baninter and the freezing of the IDB $150 million loan guarantee to Aerodom. I read into the conversation that Aerodom is basically going on a hunch that the IDB loan guarantee financing will eventually come through; and that in the meantime they will continue working at minimum staff and cost so that not all the time will be lost from temporary abandonment of the project to hopefully its full recommencement.
Thirdly, according to a staff member of new Bank of Nova Scotia in Nagua (they have taken over the old Baninter in Nagua and I assume they closed their former Nagua branch), they will take over Baninter in Las Tarrenas and in Samana, but will not take over Baninter Las Galeras. They expect their new branches to be open by January 2004.
Finally, I was not able to get any clear indication of what is going on with the Santo Domingo > Samana highway. I visited Las Americas Airport and could see no clear, specific evidence of where the highway begins. If someone could enlighten me as to how many kms from Santo Domingo the highway begins, then I could revisit at Christmas and confirm the status. I heard rumours that the project has been abandoned, but also from residents of Santo Domingo that they are still at work. The engineer from El Catey had no clear knowledge of the status of the highway, but he seems to have summed it up best by stating that the whole development of the region depends on the airport. One can therefore assume that if the present impasse between the IMF and the DR gov't over the repurchase of the electric companies is not bridged, thereby cancelling the loan from the IMF to the DR and consequently the loan guarantee from the IDB to Aerodom, that the El Catey airport and Santo Domingo - Samana highway projects will be cancelled for the forseeable future i.e. many, many years.
As a person with a financial stake in the Samana region, even I would accept that the IMF and IDB would be best to put the loan and loan guarantee respectively on hold until a new government is formed in the Spring of 2004 because we all know where the money will go if the present government has the money in its hands before the election; and we'll sink even lower than we thought possible.
I was very saddened to see how bad the economy is. My wife and I visited Megacentro and Diamond Mall and so many stores have shut down or are leaving. In both of those big malls on a Thursday afternoon there could not have been more than 20 shoppers visible at any one time. If that is an indication of the economy in general, then it is very bad.
It amazes me to no end how the people seem helpless in the face of corruption. And I suppose they are helpless in many ways, though they did elect this scoundrel. But it starts from the top; and it will take an extra-ordinary leader to clean up this financial mess, the result of greedy politicians enriching themselves with no regard to their own country or their fellow citizens. That's my rant for the day.