Reactions ranging from outright dismissal to hearty applause greeted the announcement of the Metro project made by Metro Minister, Diandino Pena. Pena built the apartment complex where President Leonel Fernandez lived before his first term in 1996, and is a visionary engineer who promoted the overpasses and other mega-projects during the first Fernandez administration. As reported in Hoy, different sectors of the transportation industry, including Hamlet Hermann, AMET’s first director, and the head of the National Council of Urban Affairs Joaquin Geronimo are opposed to the planned underground system. Santo Domingo mayor Roberto Salcedo (PLD) is in favor of the project.
Politicians from the PRSC and the PRD parties called the proposal to invest RD$20 billion in the Metro an “insult”, and while none of the legislators claim to be against modernization, they believe that a project of this dimension should not be undertaken before more pressing problems are solved. Luis Emilio Reyes from the PRSC party told reporters: “If we had solved the problems of the hospitals and the public schools, and if the people did not have so much trouble getting enough to eat, I would be totally in favor of the Metro.”
Hamlet Hermann, who is a civil engineer by trade, told reporters that the Santo Domingo Metro Office is going to do nothing more than add to the chaos that already exists in the transportation sector, where each entity does as it wishes. He criticized the creation of a “metro minister” when the country does not have a minister of transportation.
Echoing many commentators, Hermann asked reporters to examine the figures. The Metro’s promoters stated in their presentation that the Metro would create savings of US$376.6 million over five years. Herman asks how, within the 1,825 days they are referring to, they plan to save an average of RD$6 million per day with slightly less then ten kilometers of subway in one part of Santo Domingo.
Joaquin Geronimo, head of the National Council on Urban Affairs, called the project “expensive”, and said that there were other, less costly, solutions to the traffic problems. He said he preferred a model using large, articulated buses that could transport up to 250 people along dedicated lanes. The system could function in a similar way to the Metro but would cost much less. According to the CONAU chief, this is the preferred system in countries at the early stages of development.
El Caribe newspaper points out that one of the disadvantages of the Metro system is that it does not include the stretch from Villa Mella to the Peynado Bridge, site of the worst traffic congestion during peak hours.