The director of the Santo Domingo Water Works Corporation (CAASD) Alejandro Montas has announced the Medina government plans to build the Madrigal Dam, a project to supply water to the capital city that has been on government drawing boards for several decades, as reported in Listin Diario. The project, which will be renamed, was proposed in the 1980s and abandoned for financial and ecological reasons. It is estimated to cost US$300 million and an international tender for its construction will be announced next week. It is now being called the Project for the Expansion of Haina River Water Uptake (Expansion de la Captacion de Agua Rio Haina). As reported, the government included a first chapter of RD$300 million to kick-start the project. Montas says it will contribute seven cubic meters of water per second and would be efficient because it would not require electricity for pumping. The construction project also includes a sewage treatment plant to resolve residual water problems in the city.
At the end of his four year term (1982-86), then President Salvador Jorge Blanco sought approval in the National Congress for the project and met with fierce opposition from the president of the Senate, Jacobo Majluta, a fellow party member. At the time Majluta disputed Jorge Blanco’s aspiration to be the party’s presidential candidate in the upcoming election. Former President Joaquin Balaguer, who followed, would object the project on grounds that it would be built with international financing and would harm the ecology.
In an interview with Listin Diario, Montas said that the dam would definitely resolve the drinking water problems for Greater Santo Domingo and its three million residents by increasing water supply by 35%. He said that construction would take three years and that the project would be similar to the Valdesia Dam. Montas said that it would add 137 million gallons of water a day to directly benefit the 460,800 inhabitants of Los Alcarrizos, 1,152,000 of western Santo Domingo and 691,200 of northern Santo Domingo. He said that the current demand for water is 25 cubic meters per second when the supply is 17.15 cubic meters.
In 1970 a study by Boyle Engineering Corporation to assess possible water supply sources for Santo Domingo pinpointed the dam.
www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2013/1/24 263462/Gobierno-retomara-proyecto-de-construccion-de-Madrigal/