The central government has significantly reduced the expenditure for construction on new public works initiated during the term of ex-President Joaquin Balaguer. According to the newspaper Listin Diario, from 23 August to 10 September, the Ministry of Public Works received just over RD$300 million, a reduction of more than RD$400 million when compared to the month of July and of more than RD$200 million for May.
More than 1000 state-financed projects have been considerably slowed down because of the cuts, including the Autopista Duarte, which is the main artery from Santo Domingo to the northern Cibao region. In some cases, construction has been stopped completely. The cuts, according to the Listin, are being carried out in order to finance the increase in the subsidies of the state-owned companies that are now in dire straits such as the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE) and the Consejo Estatal del Azucar (CEA).
The Dominican Chamber of Construction and its president, Diego de Moya Canaan, said that the cuts in funding for construction are “very dangerous” because of the mass terminations of low-level workers hired in the last two years by companies under government construction contracts.
During recent election campaigns, the government of Dr. Balaguer was criticized for mass financing of public works instead of investing in areas like education, health, and social welfare.