President Leonel Fernandez addressed the nation yesterday on occasion of Independence Day in an optimistic tone. “Let us build an orderly country, one with efficient institutions, responsible officers, with a modern vision of government, that is flexible, agile and transparent,” he said. “Let us build a country under the rule of the law.” Let us foster the pride in being Dominican and that elsewhere in the planet we be respected because we are Dominicans,” he stated.
President Fernandez dedicated much of his speech to advocating the DR enter into the era of knowledge. He referred Dominicans to Jeremy Rifkin’s book, “The Age of Access.” He spoke of new programs to foster education, mentioning the participation of Stevens Institute of Technology in the relaunching of the Institute of Technology of the Americas (ITLA).
He proposed the Card for Young University Students, that would start with 25,000 students in the first phase and go on to benefit 100,000 and would provide young students with up to RD$10,000 in credit card funding at an interest rate of 3.5%, per month. At the same time he proposed that the student who received such credit would work in government offices as an apprentice at minimum wage.
Fernandez pointed out the need to develop talent, asking “Who knows how many Bill Gates are hidden in the Dominican countryside?”
“In the medium and long term, the competitiveness strategy of the DR needs to be oriented to promote a capital-intensive production model, based on innovation and the use of modern technologies.”
He addressed the industrial free zones, expressing hopes that their costs may drop as the prices adjust to the appreciation of the peso.
He mentioned as a priority of his government the development of the far away regions of Pedernales and Barahona.
He announced the governmental Banco Agricola would increase the availability of loans to the farming sector, and government investment would be stepped up to build rural roads and water distribution systems, plus training of farm technicians and farmers in order to “apply a platform of farm exports for those producers that have the capacity to insert themselves into international markets, to add value to their production, increase their profitability and create jobs and wealth.”
Regarding the electricity sector, he spoke of consultations with the World Bank and the USAID that seek, in the short term, to reduce losses, improve the number of paying clients to nearly 90% by the end of the year, and control operational costs of power distribution companies and the governmental CDEEE. He announced the continuing of the Program to Reduce Blackouts (PRA) that supplies power to barrios that are affected by permanent blackouts considering this part of the social programs of the government. He also spoke of the revision of the purchase contract with Union Fenosa, and the contracts signed with Cogentrix and Smith Enron, as well as the decision to program the revision of the Madrid Accord.
President Fernandez promised to deliver hard knocks to crime and proposed a Plan for Democratic Security that would increase the number of police patrols in the streets. He promised not to spare any effort to clobber crime and drug trafficking. His plan includes more training for police officers in everything from combating drug traffic to assisting in search and rescue efforts during natural disasters.
Taking his cue from many American cities, Fernandez announced the creation of a TIPS line to report crimes and preserve the anonymity of the caller.
The 28-page speech that lasted one hour and eight minutes also included references to the much-delayed family health service and a broadening of the coverage. On the question of public health, Fernandez ordered the creation of 500 family health teams that are to vaccinate one million children, and assist in an effort to help diminish cases of malaria, dengue, and meningitis. He also proposed fuller coverage for HIV and AIDS patients.
In his speech, Fernandez announced his support for the metro project.
Official transcript of the speech in Spanish at http://www.presidencia.gov.do/frontend/articulo.php?id=951