El Caribe newspaper questions Congress?s approval of a major loan for the construction of 115 multi-use sports installations, 10 athletic tracks and 11 wood floors for sports facilities. El Caribe opines that the real worth of the loan is US$61.6 million ? the sum of US$54.1 million that will be lent by the All First Bank of Maryland, with the support of the EximBank, plus another US$7.4 million. The contractor chosen is Child Save Products. The newspaper highlights that while the documents delivered to Congress say that the plans and sites for the sports installations are specified, the legislators signed without reading the documents and the details were, in fact, not included. In giving their approval, the legislators have effectively given the government a blank check. The newspaper also questions the real address of the benefited contractor.
El Caribe reports that the president of the commission of public works of the Chamber of Deputies, Alejandro Montas of the PLD, is certain government officials will receive kickbacks from the contractors and believes that the money will not be used to build new tracks, but rather to repair existing ones. He told El Caribe that the lobbyists paid US$4.8 million to get the project passed. ?That is RD$100 million which would have been enough to build 30 multi-sport facilities,? he said.
Montas told El Caribe that all engineers were excluded from the Chamber of Deputies commission that was formed to make recommendations regarding the bill. ?We did not receive copies of the plans, nor the budgets, nor the description of the work, nor information on the work timetable. We did not receive this information because it was not in the interest of the government that we evaluate the project,? he said.
Sports Minister Cesar Cede?o signed on behalf of the government and Donald Sasso of Puerto Rico on behalf of Child Save Products. No information on this company was provided. El Caribe also mentions that the address given for the company is that of Donald Sasso?s residence in Puerto Rico, whose office in the Dominican Republic is located at the Gran Hotel Lina.
El Caribe interviewed Cesar Cede?o regarding the project, who explained he was not aware of the details.
El Caribe points out in an editorial today that this loan is a good opportunity for President Mejia to make good on his promise to fight corruption regardless of who are involved.
