El Caribe newspaper reports that on 5 July, President Hipolito Mejia authorized an urban renewal development worth RD$5 billion in Sans Souci, on the East Side of Santo Domingo. The project would go up in a 394,509 square meter area, adjacent to the Columbus Lighthouse and the Mirador del Este park where sports venues for the Pan American Games are being built. The project had been on the table during the Fernandez administration but was discarded. Now the Mejia administration wants to resume the project that will require the relocation of the Navy Base and Navy facilities. The project called Sans Souci-Santo Domingo Oriental would feature a convention and exhibition center, an international financial services center, hotels, office towers, consular office centers, a large duty-free zone, shopping centers, a marina, yacht club, and parking areas for 3,500 vehicles. Also, a tunnel would connect the Avenida del Puerto with the Avenida de España passing below the Ozama River. The source of financing for the project is unknown. (16 August 2001)
