President Hipolito Mejia promised to investigate what has happened to the repair of the 50-year old Duarte Bridge. The bridge is very busy as the main connecting point of the eastern expressway into the city. Last week, Engineer Jaime Duran Hernando, a former Minister of Public Works during the Fernandez administration, warned about delays to repairs on the Duarte Bridge. He said the repairs are now being carried out by non-specialized workers. He expressed his concern that the bridge could collapse due to its progressive deterioration and the more than three years of rehabilitation, reinforcement and repairs. "At the speed that the repairs are going, that bridge could have a spectacular failure," said Duran. Duran is critical of the contracting of Conde-Mouchel for the repair work. Duran’s successor, the current Public Works Minister, Diandino Peña, hired the consortium (Dominican and British companies) at a much higher cost than the American firm Duran had hired. Duran says Conde-Mouchel has not fulfilled the conditions stipulated in the contract. Furthermore, El Siglo reports today that those in charge of the repairs have allowed the suspension cables to deteriorate. Duran said those cables had a six month guarantee and they have been sitting in the open air for three years, today showing signs of deterioration.
