Puerto Plata mayor Walter Musa Meyreles has announced that the central government will buy the land necessary to build a waste landfill and recycling plant that will cost RD$550 million. He said that President Danilo Medina had told him and that the project would be carried out as part of an agreement between the Ministry of Tourism and Puerto Plata City Hall.
Musa Meyreles, said that Tourism Minister, Francisco Javier García, would be travelling to Puerto Plata this week to give all of the project details which would solve the problems at the current garbage dump.
He explained that President Medina had asked on several occasions about the purchase of the land where the dump operates but the option was rejected as the land owners are asking for RD$298 million, although at the last minute they had reduced it to RD$110 million.
Meyreles said that both prices were too high, as owners had originally offered the land to City Hall for RD$82 million. However, the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors (Codia) valued the property at a mere RD$23 million.
Given that stalemate the authorities decided to look for another location near the current dump at a more sensible price that would at last provide a definitive solution to the garbage situation in Puerto Plata.
Paul Imbert Brugal, vice president of the Blue Jack Tar hotel said that the problem had to be solved as the garbage dump is on the way from Amber Cove cruise ship terminal into the city and the smoke caused by the burning of the garbage was affecting the population and the visitors. For decades, the business community in Puerto Plata has lobbied for a solution to the waste situation. The government had committed to resolve the situation prior to the start of operations of the Amber Cove terminal.
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Hoy
22 August 2018
