Paolo Oberti, representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Dominican Republic, said that the government will begin to implement a 15-year plan to convert the riversides of the Ozama and Isabela rivers in Santo Domingo into an "ecological corridor". The first phase of the plan calls for the relocation of 3,000 families from the La Zurza, La Cienaga , Los Guandules and Gualey slum areas along the river over a two year period. The families will be relocated and their indigent homes torn down to leave way for a boulevard where space will be prepared to lodge handicraft and other tourism-oriented stores. "The idea is to take advantage of the circumstance to embellish the area and improve the conditions of the citizens that today live in the surroundings," explained Oberti who said the works would begin this month.
