Part three of an extensive report published by the Listin Diario newspaper on a US$13 million project implemented by the Dominican Civil Aviation Board and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) focuses on millions of dollars that have been invested in aviation equipment. The equipment was purchased for the airports of Puerto Plata, Las Americas and Barahona, but the report points out that a recent audit shows much of the equipment is not operational, has been abandoned or cannibalized. The installment points to irregularities in the contract signed by the ICAO with the Spanish firm Page Iberica S. A. for US$1,531,460 for new equipment for the Alto Bandera mountain site to improve aviation communication. The audit showed a US$86,992.00 difference between the total of the tender proposal and the contract total. The audit says that this difference could not be verified as the tender and the signing of the contract took place in ICAO offices in Montreal. As part of the project, a US$500,000 shack was built in Altos de Bandera. The auditors say that what was built does not correspond with the contracted cost, and the newspaper publishes photographs of the shack substantiating this statement. Furthermore, the audit indicates there have been delays in the arrival of the contracted equipment to the Alto Bandera site. The audit recommends that the allotment of funds to the project be suspended. Other recommendations are that technicians evaluate the present status of the "Proyecto de Cooperacion Tecnica Aeronautica Civil MSA-/DOM97/801" that began in 1997. Furthermore, that the local Civil Aviation Board assume the responsibility for the project, as convened with ICAO. And that the office and transport equipment purchased with project funds pass on to the Civil Aviation Board. Furthermore, it recommends that a technical unit of the Chamber of Accounts (that carried out the audit) evaluate the works built at Alto Bandera to determine their real cost. For more on this topic, see http://www.dr1.com/daily/news010900.shtml and http://www.dr1.com/daily/news011000.shtml
