Roberto Salcedo, Mayor of Santo Domingo, denounced the fact that the governmental Banco de Reservas has withdrawn an initial RD$4 million from their city account of RD$26 million. The bank is making good on the city government?s guarantee of a RD$280-million loan taken by Salcedo?s predecessor, Johnny Ventura (PRD). Ventura, despite not having funds to even pay for adequate garbage collection, endorsed the loan for unionized private transporters for the purchase of 400 buses. The endorsement became even more questionable because it did not have the support of the Dominican Municipal League, the entity that manages all funds of the city governments.
In an apparent display of political patronage, the Mejia government gave the green light to the Banco de Reservas to grant the loan, leaving its own Damocles sword by listing as guarantor the city of Santo Domingo.
Salcedo is quoted in Diario Libre saying that for Ventura to sign the city government as guarantor was an irresponsible act.
The bus transporters under the Federacion Nacional de Transportistas la Nueva Opcion (Fenatrano), as beneficiaries of the loan, object to making the payments to the bank now. Juan Hubieres, the infamous former organizer of strikes and the current head of a union equipped with 400 new buses, says that union members will pay for the loan, once the city government helps them resolve a dispute regarding manufacturers defects of the buses that have decreased their revenues as they struggle to continually replace defective parts.
In the Listin Diario, Mayor Salcedo exclaims that if the union transporters are having trouble making the payments while their buses are brand new, what will happen later on?
Meanwhile, the Fenatrano buses are slowly replacing the OMSA buses as the public transportation service, whose management under a former truck union president has been criticized repeatedly in the press for widespread corruption in the management of its generous budget.
