A study commissioned by the civil society organization Frente Amplio (Broad Front) on a sample of 50 state projects built at a cost of over RD$1 billion, claims that they were overvalued by the construction firms to the tune of 139%. FA president Fidel Santana said that the studies by the Professional Affairs Commission would be delivered to the Attorney General of the Republic so that he can order an investigation into the case. The consortiums granted the projects include Acero Estrella, Metaldom, Odebrecht, Cemento PanAm and the Modesto Group, as well as the Rofi and Hadom construction companies, which belong to Senator Felix Bautista, according to a report in Diario Libre.
“The assignments of projects directly to engineers, overvaluation of projects and inequalities in the contract conditions are practices that violate the Constitution and the procedural laws, but have become common in this government,” said Santana during a speech at the “Inequality and Corruption in Construction Policy” forum yesterday, Wednesday 6 November. As an example he mentioned the CURNO-UASD project in Mao, built at a cost of RD$29,140,000 when according to the researchers it only required an investment of RD$19,780,000, representing an alleged overvaluation of 47%. Another example is the Cibao Airport access bridge in Santiago, which although budgeted at RD$66.2 million, should have been completed at a cost of RD$37 million, according to the experts. They say that there was a 75% overvaluation of the project.