The frontier region rose up in protest over the provision that would put an end to Law 28-01, which provides important incentives for business and industries to establish their operations there.
Romualdo Estevez, one of the very first to set up shop along the frontier, as well as the current president of the Frontier Business Association, told reporters from the Listin Diario that most of the opposition to the proviso of Law 28-01 are from the cigarette, beer and cement industries. He stated that national interests should be considered above individual interests and felt the incentives and guarantees were important to give the poorest provinces the opportunity to develop. The law provides industries locating their base of operations in the provinces of Independencia, Pedernales, Elias Pina, Dajabon, Montecristi, Santiago Rodriguez and Bahoruco very generous tax-free status.
On the other side of the coin, the National Counsel for Union Solidarity (CNUS) will visit Congress today to complain about the certain aspects of Law 28-01 with the view that it threatens those jobs that exist outside of the frontier region. Rafael Abreu, the vice-president of CNUS, told Hoy?s Aleida Plasencia that the tax reform should eliminate the law because it is ?a monstrosity that can only be explained by the disorder that reigns in a Congress controlled by the PRD.? CNUS says that Law 28-01 allows the businesses and industries that are established in the frontier provinces an unfair advantage over those operating in the rest of the country.