The president of the Asociación de Industrias, the organization that groups industries in the country, Celso Marranzini, joined the opposition to the proposed sale of 30 million meters of land by the State Sugar Council (CEA) on the eastern bank of the Ozama River, adjacent to the Ave. Charles De Gaulle extension. President Balaguer had authorized the sale of the land on Wednesday, 3 July. The monies generated by the sale, estimated at RD$450 million, would be used to finance the sugar consortium as per Decree 232-96.
The decree, nevertheless, states that the operation requires the approval of the Congress. Mr Marranzini pointed out that the government should wait for the passing of a privatization bill that makes any kind of sale of government property quite transparent, thereby preventing such sale from benefiting politicians or small groups of insiders.
The Listin Diario reported that the President had issued a similar decree on 12 May 1995, that was little known. Different from the older decree on the subject, the new one regulates that a strip of 500 meters should be left on both sides of the extension to the Ave. Charles de Gaulle, currently under construction.
The new decree also regulates industries and other kinds of businesses that could pollute the area that is near the Parque Mirador del Norte, the largest in the National District. In Congress, the PRD bloc has said it is opposed to the sale of the land.
DR affected by Nafta
The Dominican Republic is the Caribbean country that has been most affected by the entrance of Mexico into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A report from the Sistema Económico para América Latina (SELA) indicates that the D.R. has lost US$63 million in investment that would have come here but landed up in Mexico instead.
SELA forecast that the region will grow between 3.5% to 4% from now to the end of the decade, if regional countries are able to reposition themselves to take advantage of new business opportunities in the world.
SELA recommends that the Caribbean concentrate on tourism, data processing, financial services, re-export services, medical services, and the assembly of electronic components.
A report from the Dominican Free Zone Association recently recommended that the free zones prepare themselves to compete without preferences in the North American and other markets with a strategy based on a skilled labor force. Other nations that have been affected by the free trade agreement with the United States are Jamaica, Haiti, Dominica, Santa Lucia, San Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Association of Dominican Free Zones recently reported that textile exports had declined 40% due to competition from Mexico.