In an advertisement in Diario Libre on 23 January 2018, the Agencia Bella, concessionaires of Honda vehicles in the Dominican Republic, explained that the lack of a sidewalk in front of their location on Av. John F Kennedy occurred when the Ministry of Public Works added a lane to the avenue when engineer Diandino Peña was minister of Public Works. The company explains the outside wall of the company is in the same place it has always been and was not built after the road.
In a media spread on Tuesday, 23 January 2018, city Mayor David Collado gave the impression the company had usurped the highway. Agencia Bella lamented that Mayor Collado was not duly informed of the origin of the situation.
The company says that it has always been open to negotiations with the government to avoid the present situation whereby pedestrians at that point need to walk inside the highway to cross their installations.
Back tracking, the company explained that for goodwill, it had “facilitated” to the Ministry of Public Works part of the property that was used to build a pedestrian walk. The company says that they pay all their taxes and are requiring a fair price for the relinquishing of the property to restore the sidewalk.
The company complains that Mayor David Collado did not reach out to Agencia Bella to explore solution alternatives, despite the city government recognizing that the company was affected by a situation it did not create.
The National District government this week created a protected pedestrian area off the location and announced it was giving Agencia Bella 30 days to correct the situation.
25 January 2018
