Andres Vanderhorst, director of the Airport Department says the government is going ahead with the opening of the Joaquin Balaguer Airport at Higuero (previously known as La Isabela airport), located in the northern part of the Province of Santo Domingo. The airport was built primarily to service domestic flights. Herrera International Airport will be closed on Wednesday, 22 February, and the new airport will be open as of Thursday, 23 February.
Over the weekend, notwithstanding, the architect who designed the Puerto Plata and Las Americas international airports, Fred Goico alerted as to a major obstacle to the international certification of the airport. He said that the main obstacle to the successful operation of the Joaquin Balaguer International Airport is the weather conditions in the area. Listin Diario has published a letter sent by Goico to Holando Gesualdo, administrator of the new airport. In the letter he mentions that the airport has not been certified for flight operations by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) nor by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). He explains that the basic reason is that those who constructed the airport did not avail themselves of independent organizations and did not inform the President of the technical factors that affect flight operations at that particular location.
Goico says that the area is prone to visibility problems, both on the ground and in the air. “It has been proven that there are considerable meteorological problems at the Higuero airport site that according to our studies will result in the impossibility for landing of an average of 94 times a year, especially during the hurricane season and the rainy season (from May to October), as well as fog and cloud cover below minimum levels and other cloudy conditions recorded during the year 2005 up to the date. He points out that there are other reports carried out in previous year that reveal the contradictions that were known before the construction of the airport began, and thus the recommendations of consultants and other experts confirmed and recommended that the meteorological conditions were negative and would directly affect the operations of that terminal on numerous occasions throughout the year, even if sophisticated and costly equipment were installed for instrument aided navigation.
He said this will mean that commercial airliners and private pilots with visual flight licenses will have to land at alternate airports, namely Las Americas and San Isidro several times a year.
The decision to build an airport at the Higuero site was made after the Fernandez government made a deal to pay a debt to constructors of the Duarte Highway through the exchange of the commercially-valuable Herrera lands. In order to relocate the Herrera airport, the Fernandez government undertook the construction of the Higuero airport at a time when other airports were being privatized. Since construction at the Higuero airport was undertaken in 1998, the Santiago and La Romana airports, of approximately the same size, have been built and are in operation at approximately 25% the cost of the Higuero Airport. The last published figure for the Higuero airport was RD$2.5 billion.
During the first administration of President Fernandez, then Public Works Minister Diandino Pena chose the Higuero site despite warnings from a number of experts who said that the site was not adequate for an airport. The experts also cited the inadequacy of the soil, and the flocks of birds that are attracted by the Duquesa garbage dump and the Isabela river ecosystem as major factors against the location. Today, Diandino Pena has been entrusted with the construction of Santo Domingo’s first metro line. The metro has also been criticized for lack of adequate geological studies.