News reports say that President Hipólito Mejía during his visit to the Boca Chica area gave the go ahead to start to businessmen Samuel Conde, Jaak Rannik, Manuel Enrique Taveras, promoters of the Zona Franca Multimodal Caucedo in nearby Punta Caucedo. The Zona Franca Multimodal Caucedo is a major trans-shipment terminal and port that seeks to compete with the Port of Panama. The Fernández government had authorized the construction in February 1998, with Decree 29-98. The new industrial port complex will go up on an 800,000 square meter lot in Punta Caucedo, west of the Las Americas International Airport. The new industrial sector is envisioned to complement Dominican free zone operations. Major manufacturing processes, such as vehicle assembly, are contemplated for this new industrial park. The Caucedo venture is known as a multimodal port because it offers manufacturers the option of transporting goods by air, sea or land. The US$150 million project includes the construction of a major port facility with the latest technology to be used for trans-shipment of goods. The Caucedo Development Corporation has announced an agreement with CSX World Terminals to jointly operate the Zona Franca Multimodal Caucedo S.A. The promoters of the project seek to take advantage of the strategic geographic location of the port that has privileged access to the Caribbean, Central America and South American ports. The new terminal will have an area of 1.1 kilometer (0.68 mile) along the coast, with deep waters that permit the entrance of large ships. It will have a 123 hectares (5 acres) storage area for containers, and modern cranes for loading and unloading operations. The project could be in operation in 2003.
