Former Puerto Plata senator and former minister of Public Works, engineer Miguel Angel Jiménez Messón (who is married to Ginette Bournigal, present senator for Puerto Plata) denounced that the Dutch company, Boscalis International did not fulfill contractual obligations to dredge the Port of Puerto Plata. News reports said that the government invested RD$55 million in the dredging, but many areas of the port do not yet have the sufficient depth for the docking of large ships. Some port areas still are only 20 feet deep, when 34-36 feet depth had been stipulated. Engineer Jiménez said that the company bid under its cost and thus was not able to complete the job of removing 1,300,000 cubic meters of sediment. President Fernández was scheduled to visit Puerto Plata on Thursday to receive the dredged port but suspended his visit.
