President Danilo Medina met at the Presidential Palace with the heads of the leading local transport associations that dominate transport in the country. Recently, the Superior Administrative Court ordered government institutions to carry out their role and take actions to not allow these transport associations to dominate the transport in the country and have been accused of impeding competition. The transporters are known for their vandalism and violence to impede competition on their routes. They are also known for the poor service they render to their customers that because of the lack of competition have few alternatives to using their service.
As reported, Medina met with the leaders of the association to listen to their suggestions on how to eliminate chaos in the transport sector, bring transparency to the setting of fares and open a frank dialogue on transportation in the country, among other issues.
As reported in El Nacional, Antonio Marte, president of Confederación Nacional del Transporte (Conatra) said that the 1-½ hour meeting on Tuesday, 24 January 2017, took place after former President Hipólito Mejía urged President Medina to sit down with leaders of transport associations.
Marte says the President and the transporters agreed to form a public-private commission of seven transport leaders and several government officials. Minister of the Presidency, Gustavo Montalvo, will preside over the commission that will meet periodically during the next two months. After meeting with President Medina, Marte said he is optimistic the transporters will not see their business decline, but rather strengthened.
Participating in the meeting were: Antonio Marte, Conatra; Ricardo de los Santos, de la Federación Nacional de Transporte Dominicano (Fenatrado); Alfredo Pulinario (Cambita) for the Central de Movimientos de Choferes del Transporte (Mochotran), and Antonio Brito, vice president of the Federación Nacional del Transporte La Nueva Opción (Fenatrano). Also Juan Santana Soriano, of Unión Nacional de Transportistas y Afines (Unatrafin); and Freddy Méndez, of Unión Nacional de Propietarios de Autobuses (Unpa).
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El Nacional
25 January 2017
