President Danilo Medina was in Santiago to inaugurate the Santiago Central Park. The park is now the main sports and public recreation site for the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. It is also an important green area for the city.
Participating in the inauguration was Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo and the president of the Santiago Association for Development (Apedi), Fernando Capellán. Apedi will have offices inside the park. Also attending the inauguration was Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo, Environment Minister Francisco Domínguez Brito, Sports Minister Danilo Díaz, Agriculture Minister Angel Estévez, Labor Minister José Ramón Fadul, the senator for Santiago Julio César Valentín, Santiago Mayor Abel Martínez, and Santiago governor Aura Toribio. The installations received the blessing of Roman Catholic Church Monsignor Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón.
The Ministry of Public Works undertook the construction of the park that was conceived in 2000 when it was decided that the Cibao International Airport would be relocated to Licey, on the outskirts of the city. The park was built on the site of the airport.
The Ministry of Environment is contributing to the upkeep of the green areas and the Ministry of Sports has been entrusted with the security, maintenance and equipping of the sports areas. The park has facilities for mountain biking and cycling, basketball, football, volleyball, softball, baseball, tenis, running and walking. There are also social areas. There are 600 interior parking spaces and an additional 30 outside the gated area.
The park has an area of around 350,000 square meters. Some 80,000 trees were planted to contribute to the biodiversity of the new ecosystem that is now the main green public space of the country’s second largest city. The trees serve as an important habitat of bird species in the area.
President Danilo Medina signed Decree 84-18 that creates the Parque Central de Santiago as a municipal ecological park. The decree created a board to oversee its operation.
21 February 2018
