“Here you have everything…. now take care of your town!”, exclaimed President Danilo Medina yesterday, 23 April 2014, at the inauguration ceremony for the new town of Boca de Cachon in the southwestern province of Independencia. Medina has described the town as a model for the relocation of low-income families.
The residents of the original Boca de Cachon had suffered the loss of extensive areas of town because of severe flooding during tropical storms Noel and Olga in 2007. Properties in the town and surrounding areas were also being consumed by the rapid expansion of Lake Enriquillo.
The construction of the new Boca de Cachon included 560 new houses, elementary, secondary and vocational schools, a primary health care clinic, heliport, parks, sports and recreation facilities, a fresh food market, a community center, two churches, the city hall, a national police station, an INAPA water office, a telecommunications center, a water treatment plant, a senior citizens center, an office of the Red Cross, a farm support center and a fire station.
In addition to the improvements in the town itself, the government cleared and prepared 53,000 tareas (1 tarea=629 square meters) of farmland to be worked by farm families who had lost their lands and livelihoods due to the flooding.
President Medina urged the beneficiaries of the project to care for their new town. To assist in the management of Boca de Cachon, the government, together with community leaders formed several local oversight committees that would coordinate services in the community, thus guaranteeing that local residents would have a voice and direct role in the town’s governance.
Needless to say the families who have benefited from the government’s investment in this ambitious project were overjoyed.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2014/04/23/i578761_danilo-medina-aqu-tienen-todo-defiendan-ahora-pueblo.html