The mayor of Santo Domingo, Dr. Rafael Subervi Bonilla, has announced a project to be undertaken by the city council and the government of Japan to refill La Duquesa refuse dump. The dump has been the source of at least two fires in the last year and a half, and the toxic gases concentrated on the site of the dump constitute an environmental hazard. Dr. Subervi said that the Japanese government, through its embassy in Santo Domingo, will provide the equipment necessary to remove refuse where the refilling will take place. The work will be carried out at the end of this year, said Dr. Subervi, and will be completed before the end of his term as mayor in 1998. The grounds of the refuse dump belong to the central government’s Consejo Estatal de Azucar (CEA), but have been administered by the city council under the mayor.
17-23 May 1996