The Chamber of Deputies has approved a US$143.3 million loan for the construction of the Mercado Central de Mayoristas de Santo Domingo, a mega market to be located on the Duarte Highway. The Ministry of Agriculture project also calls for the construction of 50 cold storage units in Santo Domingo, Constanza, Bani, La Vega and San Juan de la Maguana. In addition, a slaughterhouse and cold storage warehouse for the processing of 2,000 chickens per hour will be built. The same project calls for 295 government-run plant nurseries throughout the nation. The project is developed in coordination with an affiliate of the Spanish government Agriculture and Finance departments. The DR government will be borrowing the US$143.3 million from the Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Española. This project has been denounced for being overvalued by 153% compared to an offer made by an American company. The National Association of Poultry Producers describes it as the state competing with the private sector. During the same session, the Chamber of Deputies also approved a US$2.7 million loan from the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria of Spain to equip the Armed Forces.
