2008 – Page 160

President Leonel Fernandez has instructed the Ministry of Education and the head of the National Housing Institute (INVI) to identify the families of students that received awards yesterday who live in extreme poverty and to build them new houses. This announcement was made during an awards ceremony for 193 meritorious students from all over the …

Read more…

President Leonel Fernandez met with both parties involved in the dispute between the Chevron-Texaco company and the Petroleum Transporters Association (Asociacion de Empresas Transportadoras de Petroleo) and the tanker drivers association (Sindicato Autonomo de Choferes Transportadores de Petroleo y sus Afines) cartels that had blockaded the access to the Dominican Refinery (Refidomsa) since 9 June. …

Read more…

The Tax Department (DGII) is offering tax incentives to foreign companies that bring new technologies into the country. They are offering income tax exemption for companies that come with projects that will develop products, conduct research and develop technology as well as training personnel and protecting the environment. Anyone offering consulting services in these areas …

Read more…

The Standard & Poor’s agency has improved the Dominican Republic’s credit rating to B+B, and taken the DR off of the non-trustworthy list of nations where it was placed last 8 February with negative implications due to the uncertainty surrounding payments that had to be made in the Sun Land case between March and July …

Read more…

Economists Carlos Despradel, Miguel Ceara Hatton and Isidoro Santana are advocates of a downsizing of the state to help the nation deal with the rising oil and food prices. In an interview with Hoy, the economists shared their ideas on what is wrong and how the economy could be improved. Carlos Despradel, a former Central …

Read more…

The National Association of Private Clinics (Andeclip) has threatened to halt services to people holding cards from HMOs if the Superintendent of Health and Labor Risks (Sisalril) decides to admonish them for asking for pre-payments from patients needing intensive care or with catastrophic illnesses. Andeclip president Rafael Mena told reporters from Diario Libre that the …

Read more…

Non-payment by some of the agencies that receive electricity on the spot market is affecting the electricity generators’ economic operations, and this is causing a reduction in the level of service and even the possible closure of some of the generators that cannot maintain themselves financially because they are not receiving the necessary money to …

Read more…

The Constanza Valley Garlic Growers Association is complaining that its members are about to lose more than 50,000 quintals of garlic from this year’s crop, due to the enormous amount of garlic that is crossing the border from Haiti. This garlic is imported from China for eventual distribution in the Dominican Republic. So far, the …

Read more…

A group of doctors at the Dario Contreras Hospital have distanced themselves from the irregular sale of surgical materials. Meanwhile, the hospital director said that only two doctors were involved in the fraudulent practice. Dr. Hector Quezada said that the two unnamed doctors being linked with the irregular sales will be transferred to other health …

Read more…

The nation’s largest bus company, Caribe Tours, took dozens of their buses out of service yesterday to stage a protest in front of the offices of the OTTT, the government agency that assigns routes to different entities. The OTTT had rescinded the permission obtained by Caribe Tours to operate a direct connection between Santo Domingo …

Read more…