Puerto Plata port construction contract granted
President Hip?lito Mej?a has authorized the construction of the US$160-million Puerto Plata port, announced governor of that province Ginnette Bournigal de Jim?nez, as reported in Hoy newspaper. The construction of the port will require the relocation of the Smith-Enron power plant and the clinker downloading facility of the port. The governor announced that the President, in a closed arrangement, authorized Puerto Plata Cruise Port Development Company, S.A. to build the port.
The port area spans from the Puntilla on the Malecon to the Poza del Castillo. Decree 459-03 orders that the area be free and that the investors not find obstacles at the time of construction.
The decree establishes that investors and the power authorities of the country need to find a harmonious way for the transfer of the power generation plants located in the area of the port site.
Ludwig Meister, who is also completing construction of Ocean World, an aquatic park in Cofres?, Puerto Plata, is the main investor in the Puerto Plata Cruise Port Development Company, S.A. Meister hosted President Mej?a during a visit in July 2001 to his Deep & Down Discovery aquatic facility in the Bahamas. The Cofres? park would be a major attraction site for the cruise-ship visitors. Investors say that the work would be concluded within 18 months and they expect revenues of US$70 million.
The Hoy reporter says that Governor Ginette Bournigal de Jim?nez requested approval of the port project on her most recent visit to the President at the Presidential Palace.