In his interview on Channel 11 yesterday, former President Hipolito Mejia expressed no knowledge of the proposal for the construction of an artificial island in front of Santo Domingo’s seafront avenue, the Malecon. He described the plan as “illogical.”
“I don’t have the remotest idea about that island,” he said when interviewed by journalist Juan Bolivar Diaz. Diaz asked him about the island that had been approved during his administration.
Architect Eduardo Selman had told El Caribe that the Fernandez government was just following up on the authorization issued during the Mejia administration. Decree 246-04 dated 22 March 2004 signed by Mejia authorized Santo Domingo ReDevelopment Ltd to develop the Ciudamar project along the capital’s southern seafront.
President Leonel Fernandez has also supported the construction of the artificial island and works are due to begin this year. The island was designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill.
Visiting for the Santo Domingo 2015 Conference, Spanish architect Jordi Borja, one of the key architects of the success story of Barcelona, called it an enclave and said it would have a negative impact on landscaping. He said if the city continues to build enclaves instead of socially-integrated spaces, the separation of classes would require private armies to maintain security.
Also participating in the Conference, Spanish architect Alfonso Vegara criticized the island: “What Santo Domingo needs is socially-integrated spaces; not islands for hotels.”
The president of the Santo Domingo Hotels association called the artificial island “an aberration,” in an interview with El Caribe newspaper. “The island is an aberration. Imagine that buildings would cover up the view of the tourists staying at the six hotels on the Malecon,” he explained. He added it would take away the sense of all the celebrations that are held on the Malecon.