President Hipolito Mejia has come out in favour of building hotels on national park property. As reported in Hoy newspaper, the President says he agrees with being flexible with the use of the protected areas and that the bill to modify the law to allow hotel construction has the support of 90% of the senators. “The hoteliers have served themselves with the big spoon, and now anything that could affect their interests they do not want to be carried out – but Congress will decide,” said President Mejia.
TheMinistry of Tourism also views the initiative to infringe on the park limits as valid, based on the grounds that similar action has been taken in previous administrations. Minister Miguelina Ortiz said that on 29 September 2000, then-Tourism Minister Rafael Alfredo Bordas issued a provisionally conditioned no-objection letter for the construction of the Gran Palace Bayahibe Beach Resort, by Globalia, a Spanish company whose affiliate Air Europa flies to the Dominican Republic from Spain. Ortiz said that as far back as 1976, then-President Joaquin Balaguer excluded a large section from protected status, bestowing its use to Wayne Fuller, a US investor. Currently, 39 ecological organizations, the National Association of Hotels & Restaurants and the Tour Operator’s Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development oppose the severing of any sections of protected parkland on grounds that this is prohibited by Environmental Law 64-00 which was passed in 2000 and seeks to avoid further violations to park area.
See http://dr1.com/travelnews/archive/2004/tnews020304.html