The schools of architecture of the UNPHU university in Santo Domingo and the University of Puerto Rico have joined forces with the Dominican Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (Icomos) and the City of Ovando Association that groups leading businesses in the sector to create a platform for the development of the full potential of the Colonial City as a major tourism attraction, as reported in Hoy. The alliance was formed in response to the lack of coordination between the community, businesses and other players, which they consider an obstacle to the achieving of the Colonial City’s full potential. The initiative will now be known as “Working Together: Encounter and Voice of the Traditional and Contemporary City”. The universities are working to document the weaknesses of the Colonial City. The multi-sectorial alliance seeks to create a network of the organizations and companies that have incidence on the area. Signing for the University of Puerto Rico was Manuel Bermudez, and for the UNPHU Omar Rancier. Virginia Flores signed for Icomo, and Lisandro A. Macarrulla signed for the City of Ovando Association.
Speaking during the signing of the agreement, Macarrulla stated that the aim was to get all sectors of society involved and listen to the needs of the stakeholders so that projects may come forth that take into account lessons learned from the development of other colonial cities like San Juan, in order to replicate what worked and discard what didn’t.