On the way to/from Samaná on the SD-Samaná highway there are parts that pass by African palms plantations. They are used for the oil extracted from their nuts which is used for many industrial process and I think even for cooking oil. If you think that was a speculation business, think again. It turns out that Luis Álvarez Renta was hired to do the feasibility and market studies to see if the African palm could be produced in optimal levels in the DR, as a way the DR could start producing its own African palms and become self-sufficient in an oil that until then was 100% imported. He was basically the only person in the DR that could do the study for that project. He was paid over US$1 million for that. Btw, he graduated from MIT in Massachussets.
At 40:18 he begins to speak about the African palm project for which he was responsible for the feasibility research.
