President Hipolito Mejia refuted claims that public investment is declining. He guaranteed that works under construction will not stop and that new major projects are about to start. He also lashed out against newspaper editors who publish reports about declining public investment, calling them rascals ("sinverguenzas"). He denied that public investment has dropped RD$1,000 million as El Siglo newspaper published on Sunday, 30 April. "Look, the problem of many of you journalists and of the other rascals that direct the media I believe that is part of the norm, that you make a cold analysis of things," Mejia told journalist Leo Reyes of El Siglo. He said the reality of the situation is different from the journalists’ "cold analysis". There are many public works that have been started and are not included in the budget reports, explained the President. He said the highways of Barahona and San Juan are not listed, for example. He emphasized that public works have not been stopped nor will they be stopped. The newspaper published on Monday that government investment has declined 46.5% in the first trimester and that official data from the National Budget Office shows construction work investment was down 56.3%. The President says the publishers of that data are excessive talkers ("babosos"). On Friday, the President said at a Bani Development Foundation breakfast that conflicts of interest among those who want to build the projects have delayed their execution. The government has not been carrying out tenders, but is instead hand picking the builders of most public works projects. The President announced that the Northwestern aqueduct, the Santo Domingo-Samana highway, and the megaport in Manzanillo, Monte Cristi would start next week.
