The press has been very critical of the announcement of Minister of Public Works Diandino Peña that the government will undertake the construction of nine 22-floor towers each in lots adjacent to the Plaza de la Salud, the high-tech medical center built by the previous Balaguer administration. Supposedly, the buildings will be used to house the Olympic Village for the year 2003 Pan American Games for which the country is seeking the site. There is much skepticism that the DR would obtain this site, though. There is even more controversy over whether it would be good for the Dominican Republic where sports facilities suffer from lack of government maintenance and where government are said to be others. Hoy newspaper political analyst Angel Barrioso criticized the construction of the buildings. Barrioso, in his column questioned why the towers when the Fernández government has so many other priorities. The PLD government has been criticized for not completing works left half way by the Balaguer administration when it abandoned the presidency in 1996 and commenced and not finished by the Fernández administration itself. Minister Diandino Peña is a builder who worked with the office that supervises government works under the Balaguer administration. He went on to be better known as a very successful builder of luxury apartments, and achieved notoriety as the financier of the Leonel Fernández presidential campaign. Defending the project, that has been rejected by the board of directors of the Plaza de la Salud, engineer Peña says that the buildings will bring an urban renewal to the area that is surrounded by whorehouses and cabarets, small mechanic workshops and other small businesses. Furthermore, he says the start of their construction will improve the country’s chances of winning the Pan American Games in year 2003. He favors the country holding the games as he says these will bring 7,500 athletes from 42 countries and will stimulate the Dominican economy as well as be positive for the tourism industry. A report in the Listín Diario says that the apartments will be sold at cost to upper middle class Dominicans with connections to the government party.
