Santo Domingo Hotels Association president Roberto Henriquez has criticized the city government’s continued neglect of Santo Domingo’s emblematic Malecon, the 14-km oceanfront boulevard. He recalled that when first elected Association president in 2009, the Santo Domingo hoteliers presented several key problem areas to Mayor Roberto Salcedo’s city government, but despite spending several terms in the post, nothing has happened and the situation has worsened.
Henriquez mentioned the lack of safety, slumification, lack of lighting, potholes and traffic flow problems along the Malecon, especially on its Av. George Washington and Autopista 30 de Mayo stretches, as reported in Diario Libre. He said that seven years after making the proposals the city was still waiting for the city government to come through and rescue the emblematic area. Although several of the city’s main hotels n Jaragua Renaissance, Santo Domingo Sheraton and Crowne Plaza n are located on the Malecon, the city government’s negligence is affecting them and has motivated new investors to relocate to other areas of the city.
Now back as president of the Santo Domingo Hotels Association, Henriquez says that four months ago the association presented a list of requests with the Malecon renovation as one of the priorities. He said urban renewal should be more than creating pools for the Guibia Park at Easter, a reference to one of the city government’s higher profile projects. Henriquez criticized the total neglect of the lighting, safety, palm trees, benches, sidewalks, and the persistence of heavy vehicle traffic, lack of access lanes and prostitution in the Malecon area.
“If we do not take care of tourism if the authorities do not work together to defend tourism in Santo Domingo, all the Ministry of Tourism’s hard work towards linking other domestic tourist destinations with the city are at risk,” he said, as reported in Diario Libre.
He said that boom times were ahead for Santo Domingo, with investors expressing confidence in the city, but more progress was needed in the areas of planning and implementing the law.
The former general secretary of Santo Domingo city council, who competed against Salcedo for the PLD mayor nomination and lost, Domingo Contreras, says that construction company Odebrecht has proposed the construction of a coastal project similar to one built in Panama City. He says the costs could be reviewed and the project presented again.
Meanwhile, the city government’s director of infrastructure Jose Noboa said that the construction of the Paseo Maritimo Autopista 30 de Mayo would resume in two months’ time. He said that while the Ministry of Public Works had completed their part of the project, the city government fell short in funds available for their part of the project. He said that funds for its completion were now available in the 2016 National Budget. The project involves the restoration of eight kilometers of coastal road, of which the city government was responsible for four kilometers, and the Ministry of Public Works for another four.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/ciudad/la-asociacion-de-hoteleros-de-la-capital-advierte-que-hay-que-cuidar-el-turismo-LN2593580
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/ciudad/sugieren-alianza-que-impulse-turismo-GN2593697
