A former director of the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidraulicos (Indrhi), Augusto Rodríguez Gallart commented on a TV program that a new drain needs to be urgently built into the Sabana Yegua Dam, that is located in the southwest, and is fed by the Yaque del Sur River. He said that in its present state, the dam is a time bomb. He said that if Hurricane Lenny had passed over the DR, the overflow would have wiped out several southwestern cities. Rodríguez explained that this did not occur during Hurricane Georges because the dam was empty, and even though the waters came within a dangerous three meters from overflowing. Rodríguez urged that the government specialize 50% of the income from the sale of electricity from the dams for maintenance and improvement of the dams. He says that the dams generate about RD$1,000 million a year. He spoke up against privatization of the dams, from the point of view that if they were in private hands these would concentrate on the production of electricity, and not on using the waters for farm irrigation. Engineer Frank Rodríguez, the present director of the Indrhi, said that the government is seeking a US$50 million financing from the government of Japan to build the drain.
