So Many Unfinished Projects

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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So Many Unfinished Public Works Projects

I found the item on the 1,100 unfinished Public Works projects, some dating back as much as 20 years, in today's dr1 news summary very interesting. And I certainly agree that they represent a huge financial loss to the country. I believe that everyone who lives in the DR can name at least one project on which a great deal of money was spent but the project was never finished.

One that comes immediately to my mind is the big marina project in Samana harbor. The government spent large sums of money on dredging and starting to prepare the harbor for a marina, but then Leonel was replaced by Hippo and the project died. Since then, the harbor has been silting back in and the scars left from that project detract significantly from the beauty of the town of Samana.

It would be interesting to see how many projects expat posters can name that represent a great deal of money spent but wasted because the project was never finished.
 
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juanita

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Apr 22, 2004
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- The hotel on the Malecon / Gomez that has been there for years!
- The big empty hole at Kennedy / Lopez de Vega
 

Ken

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The news item was talking about Public Works projects, but you are right, juanita, there are many, many eye sores due to failure to finish projets, whether public or private financing involved.
 

Kiwicanuck

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Ken said:
I found the item on the 1,100 unfinished Public Works projects, some dating back as much as 20 years, in today's dr1 news summary very interesting. And I certainly agree that they represent a huge financial loss to the country. I believe that everyone who lives in the DR can name at least one project on which a great deal of money was spent but the project was never finished.

When I read your observation regarding unfinished projects it reminded me of just the other day I was watching on TV some news from Iraq. I saw a partially bombed out building and it reminded me of some of the unfinished buildings I had seen in the D.R.

For a brief moment when I switched to the channel I thought I was actually watching something from the D.R. To me these unsightly half finished buildings are the saddest part of the D.R.

.
 

Ken

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Kiwicanuck said:
When I read your observation regarding unfinished projects it reminded me of just the other day I was watching on TV some news from Iraq. I saw a partially bombed out building and it reminded me of some of the unfinished buildings I had seen in the D.R.

For a brief moment when I switched to the channel I thought I was actually watching something from the D.R. To me these unsightly half finished buildings are the saddest part of the D.R.

.

Kiwicanuck, when I was in Venezuela I saw a lot of these unsightly, half finished buildings. I wonder if it has something to do with the cost of getting financing? Maybe more of these private projects would be finished if borrowed money wasn't so expensive.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Here in Santiago

The northern beltway.
the Hatuey Avenue

Are two that are easy to find. There must be a few more.


HB
 

GilbertArenas

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Ken said:
Kiwicanuck, when I was in Venezuela I saw a lot of these unsightly, half finished buildings. I wonder if it has something to do with the cost of getting financing? Maybe more of these private projects would be finished if borrowed money wasn't so expensive.

The building on the corner of 27/Lincoln (where Pizza Hut is) took over 7 years to build. Yes, that pathetic little 3 story building.

Financing seems to grind to a halt in the DR for obvious reasons. Fortunes are lost very quickly there due to the fluctuating peso/corruption etc etc.

Life in the 3rd world. You can't expect groomed beauty, seems like whenever humans intervene in the DR they destroy the area.
 

Mr_DR

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May 12, 2002
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Some of these unfinished projects also are started by individuals dealing drugs in the States and once they get caught it is a one way trip to the big house for a very long time.

Some of these drug dealers sometimes are less fortunate because instead they may have a trip to the morgue and their projects never gets completed.
 

Danny W

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Mar 1, 2003
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On the road to Puerto Plata near Monte LLano (SP?) there is the beginning of an overpass. I always wondered why. I assume that many of these projects were just started to line some pockets, and never were intended to be finished.
 

Ken

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Private, not public works, just outside Santiago on the road to La Vega are the skeleton of what was supposed to be a large, very modern hospital/medical center built by doctors in the United States and a nearby very large unfinished hotel.
 

Bartolomeo67

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Mar 18, 2004
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Santo Domingo - Samana highway?

Not really an unfinished project, but one still waiting to be started I think.
I believe this was one of Hippo's projects, to link Samana with Santo Domingo by highway, cutting travel time in half. I remember the financing or construction company that got the contract was highly criticized from the start.
Any sign of a beginning of this highway yet?
Bartolomeo