2008 – Page 154

The New York Mets baseball club has invested US$8 million in their new baseball academy near Boca Chica in the south of the Dominican Republic to produce Major League prospects. President Leonel Fernandez threw the opening pitch at the ceremonies. At the event, Omar Minaya, the Mets’ general manager and Jeff Wilpon, the Mets’ president …

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The Fernandez administration seeks congressional approval to add RD$31.6 billion to this year’s government spending. The Presidency called for Congress to extend the legislature through 15 August. Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa said that funds will come from a RD$10.9 billion reduction in current spending, RD$500 million in PetroCaribe petroleum purchases financing from Venezuela, and capital …

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The government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have declared the documentation of 300,000 indigent persons a “national priority.” Vice President Rafael Alburquerque and UNICEF country representative Tad Polad made the announcement during a meeting at the Central Electoral Board (JCE) with JCE president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman. Alburquerque explained once provided with IDs …

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The Central Electoral Board (JCE) of the Dominican Republic will be lending its full support to assist its sister organization in Haiti to provide identity documents to Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, according to a report in El Caribe. The announcement comes at a time when the JCE has unveiled thousands of instances of …

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The Minister of Industry and Commerce has issued a statement where it postpones its decision on whether gasoline stations can sell propane gas to vehicles. The National Association of Gasoline Retailers (Anadegas) fill-up stations want to become “service stations,” offering consumers gasoline, diesel, propane and natural gas, when it becomes available. The National Association of …

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Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez says this year the DR will export US$90 million worth of cacao, equivalent to 40,000 metrics tons. The Minister explained that in the first six months of the year the country exported 24,000 metric tons of cacao. Jimenez says that a metric tone of Dominican cacao is sold for as much …

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The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) has ordered Codetel to give Dgtec access to a set of blocked phone numbers within the next 24 hours. Indotel originally assigned the numbers to Dgtec. Indotel is also ordering Dgtec to reprogram its call deflection policies to only allow the service only when the user is connected to the …

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OTTT denied that it had prohibited Caribe Tours from operating its buses on the new Santo Domingo-Samana tollway. Asonahores yesterday protested recent decisions of OTTT that have impeded Caribe Tours, a leading bus company, from offering its service on the route to Samana and Cap Haitien.

The prices of construction materials have increased 5% to 50% during the first six months of the year. Luis Mejia, president of the Dominican Hardware Federation, says that sales for cement, metal rods, gravel, paint, woods, steel and all other building materials are down because of the higher prices. A bag of cement which cost …

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Manuel Cabrera, the new president of the Association of Industries of Herrera, criticizes that the government, despite announcing an austerity program, continues to spend freely on advertising. Cabrera mentions as an extreme case a costly advertisement in the press yesterday by the Energy Commission congratulating the government on the “success in its efforts in the …

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