The Ministry of Environment says that garbage disposal is a national emergency and its solution can no longer be delayed. The government has announced that as of now, the Ministry of Environment, not the city governments, will decide the location of garbage dumps. The Ministry announced the closure and permanent relocation of the five dumps located in Sanchez, Samana city and Las Terrenas in Samana, that of Puerto Plata city, and another in Guiri Guiri, La Altagracia province. The announcements were made as part of the Municipal Solid Waste Integrated Management Policy that inventoried more than 350 dumps nationwide. The plan is to reduce this total to 80 due to their negative impact on health, the environment and the image that the country presents to tourists. Domingo Contreras is advising the Ministry of Environment on solid wastes. As reported, the city government of Santo Domingo North and 20 other municipalities – Greater Santo Domingo, Higuey, La Romana, San Pedro de Macoris, Samana, Villa Altagracia, Bonao, Moca, San Francisco de Macoris, Cotui, La Vega, Constanza, Sabaneta, Mao, Bani, Azua, Barahona, San Juan de la Maguana, Yaguate, Villa Gonzalez and Miches – were given six months to submit a proposal on how they will manage their solid waste.
The city governments whose proposals are accepted by the Ministry will spend 36 months working with a specialist team from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to develop the plan.
The government ordered the construction of garbage dumps in Villa Altagracia, Bonao, Puerto Plata and Samana.