Relocating the people of Boca Nueva

Boca Nueva and Playa Bergantin

I'm also interested to get some facts about this subject. I have been told that there are plans to force the people in those villages to relocate to Montellano. At the moment they are building new houses for these people in front of Las Brisas in Montellano. My good friends are running a beach restaurant on Playa Bergantin. That piece of land where their restaurant is has been in their family for decades and they also have documents to prove that they own the land. Eventually, I think they will have no option but to sell their land. Most of the people in those villages have no documentation to prove that they own the land they live on.

Personally, I think it is a tragedy that these people will be forced to relocate to Montellano or somewhere else. Many of these people doesn't have a job, but living near the beach they are able to fish and grow vegetables and other things in their garden. Living in town could be "the end" for many of them.

Playa Bergantin is a paradise just as it is right now. If it is filled with big hotels it will be destroyed.

To Mark

mbain said:

I couldn't agree more. I lived in Boca Nueva for 6 months while i had a small jet- ski operation on Bergantin.
Mark

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Are you still living in DR? I think I have met you on Bergantin in 2003. For several days we tried to negotiate with you about the price for renting a jet-ski but we never came to an agreement. Maybe you remember us.

mbain said:

I'm up in Canada now but i'll be moving back soon to start another venture. I had to negotiate with so many people i might not remember you. I was working with Killa the second restaurant from Playa Dorado and i also worked where the funny bikes came in. It had to be me in 2003 if you were looking for a jet- ski though.

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From your description I know you are the same person I met. It is understandable when you meet lots of new people everyday that it is impossible to remember everyone. Good luck with your new venture!

Chareena said:

I'm also interested to get some facts about this subject. I have been told that there are plans to force the people in those villages to relocate to Montellano. At the moment they are building new houses for these people in front of Las Brisas in Montellano. My good friends are running a beach restaurant on Playa Bergantin. That piece of land where their restaurant is has been in their family for decades and they also have documents to prove that they own the land. Eventually, I think they will have no option but to sell their land. Most of the people in those villages have no documentation to prove that they own the land they live on.

Personally, I think it is a tragedy that these people will be forced to relocate to Montellano or somewhere else. Many of these people doesn't have a job, but living near the beach they are able to fish and grow vegetables and other things in their garden. Living in town could be "the end" for many of them.

Playa Bergantin is a paradise just as it is right now. If it is filled with big hotels it will be destroyed.

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Well, depending on the propose project for those land areas, those who would be relocated might not be worst off afterwards.

If the land will be developed for tourism (probably it will), then that means more jobs in the area. If the new owners of that land were kind enough to build homes in the new relocation site for the people in Boca Nueva, then they will probably be nice enough to offer some training to those relocated and offer them some employment.

Again, I'm not completely familiar with the proposed project, but it could turn out to be better for them in many other ways.

A similar thing happened to the residents of Juanillo near Punta Cana. They were relocated by the CapCana group to a new site where a small village was built from scratch by the CapCana group. The relocated residents now have houses that are in much better shape than the bohios they used to live and they now are being offered jobs within CapCana once the project is finished. That really is great since the residents of Juanillo used to live in very rustic conditions.

I understand what will happen in Boca Nueva is not exactly what happened at Juanillo, but again, if the developers were nice enough to build homes for the soon to be relocated inhabitants, then they might be nice enough to offer some of the job positions to those relocated.

Big hotel

Not completely versed on the area but the word I get is a big hotel (1) project is about to unfold with principals from the Santiago area. There is a small river that will be incorporated in the design of the building. It's not slated to be a Playa Dorado type complex but a single hotel.
The housing being built at Montellano is targeted to house the displaced residents.
I wonder if the airport bypass road will ever be completed now.

Jerry K said:

Not completely versed on the area but the word I get is a big hotel (1) project is about to unfold with principals from the Santiago area. There is a small river that will be incorporated in the design of the building. It's not slated to be a Playa Dorado type complex but a single hotel.
The housing being built at Montellano is targeted to house the displaced residents.
I wonder if the airport bypass road will ever be completed now.

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Jerry K.
The airport bypass road will (if correctly positioned) be a GREAT advantage to any hotel being built in the Bergantin Beach area as it will allow quicker & better entrance facilities to the hotel. Maybe this is part of the "payment" the hotel had to make to get their bid accepted???

Hotel project/POP airport

Picked up a bit more info today, nothing on the proposed Boca Nueva project.
The other project is along the Camu river. A large hotel and yacht marina at the mouth of the river. Property runs from the highway on the west side of steel bridge back to the ocean. Nobody is being chased from their homes, but on a sad note about 100 tall mature palm trees will be cut down as part of the project. In south Florida trees this size are pulling a couple grand a piece. Besides the hotel, an ampitheatre is in the works.

Jerry K said:

Picked up a bit more info today, nothing on the proposed Boca Nueva project.
The other project is along the Camu river. A large hotel and yacht marina at the mouth of the river. Property runs from the highway on the west side of steel bridge back to the ocean. Nobody is being chased from their homes, but on a sad note about 100 tall mature palm trees will be cut down as part of the project. In south Florida trees this size are pulling a couple grand a piece. Besides the hotel, an ampitheatre is in the works.

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Is this near Sanchez, Samana Peninsula?

Isn't the Camu River delta within the Parque Nacional Los Haitises or was that area's protected status stripped away by Mr. Baldness?

Are you sure those 100 tall mature palm trees are going to be cut? You know, the DR is on important exporter of palm trees, they might make a buck out those 100 palms afterall. I won't be surprised if many of those palms lining Miami avenues and other Florida locations were grown in the DR.

Also, bit off topic but, did you know that Northeast of the US gets most of it cut flowers from the Dominican Republic! I learned that the other day.

Also, what is up with these developers? Do they all have a plan into turning the DR into the Greece of the New World. Casa de Campo was the first one to build an amphitheater. Now, Cap Cana is going to build one also and this new project as well?! Hay ya yay!

Development site

The site is just west of the POP airport between the highway and the ocean.
Land fronts the river. The mouth ofthe river will be dredged to allow entry by pleasure boats.

mbain said:

Where are you located?

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I live in Finland.

I'm going to Puerto Plata with my hubby next weekend and will stay there for two weeks. I will spend a lot of time on Bergantin and in Montellano, so I will try to get some more information about the relocation subject.

Where did the Juanillo residents go?

Does anybody know WHERE they relocated the residents of Juanillo? Are they still on the beach, or were they stuck somewhere further inland?

David Dempsey said:

Does anybody know WHERE they relocated the residents of Juanillo? Are they still on the beach, or were they stuck somewhere further inland?

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The CapCana Group built a new Juanillo a bit south of the Cap Cana property, though I'm not sure if they are by the beach. They are close to it I suppose.

The inhabitants got electricity 24/7, running water, job propositions at CapCana, and they have security 24/7. Very good security, nobody is allowed into the new Juanillo if you don't know someone in the town, they are living like elites in many ways.

The homes are made of cinderblock, but the facade has the woods over the blocks to make the homes look "typical" rather than having the "cement look". Also, they got toilets now.

Overall, a huge improvement from how they were living before!

What I know

I have been told that there will be a major developement at Playa Bergentin. It eventually will have 3 times the number of room as Playa Dorada but with only 5 resorts not 14.

The relocation of the village was part of the negotiated terms! These people are big business and generally don't give a damn about the locals unless they are forced to. So building the houses in Montellano was agreed on in advance. Yes the villagers will have better houses for the most part, own them and the land, but they will lose out on location!

Maybe there will be opportunities for work for them. Definately there will be work opportunities for many. They should start preparing soon.......

As I understand it the people in Montellano are not too pleased to be invaded in this way! They don't necessarily like that all these new people are being forced on them. It will definately be interesting to watch....

Just my 2 pesos worth...... I don't vouch for the accuracy of what I have been told....