2005News

New options for Metro

The Metro system proposed by the current administration has come under widespread criticism and, apparently there is more coming. Specialists, according to the El Caribe, consider the projected metro system to be a very costly project for the Dominican Republic. Today the Council of Government, headed by President Leonel Fernandez, will listen to the details of the plan, as laid out by Minister Diandino Pena. Nonetheless, engineers, architects and urban planners insist that there are other solutions that would be less costly and less disruptive to the city’s life. Among the options are trolleys, a monorail, articulated buses along designated lanes, an open top rail system, and a combination of the buried subway system and one above ground. According to studies, the underground system will cost US$50 million per kilometer; the uncovered system would cost US$40 million; the monorail would cost US$15 million and the trolley would cost US$5 million.