The Ministry of Public Works built the building during the Danilo Medina administration as an interurban bus depot, but the bus unions nor the people in Santo Domingo East were in favor. Today, the building is not a terminal for bus passengers. Instead, it is the new hub for culture and services for the people of Santo Domingo East.
The fate of the planned bus depot was decided when then opposition party Manuel Jimenez won the Santo Domingo East mayoralty for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). He had always been a firm opponent of the bus terminal. The large facility next door to the Los Tres Ojos tourist attraction and the Mirador del Este sports and recreational park is now dedicated to young people. The city government has installed several service offices for the community in general.
The Centro de Innovacion y Emprendimiento Municipal del Ayuntamiento de Santo Domingo Este is promoted as La Parada de la Cultura (Culture Stop). Paola Adrians is the manager of the new Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Santo Domingo East.
Adrians told El Nuevo Diario that people can renew their passports, sign up for welfare programs, and have access there to dozens of other government services, access free Internet. There is a co-working space and a police station. The Las Americas Technological University has a branch offering workshops to train new entrepreneurs and other courses. A prothesis lab is located there.
Adrians says that soon a music school will open for children who lived in the municipality, a branch of the Banco de Reservas and more.
Read more in Spanish:
El Nuevo Diario
18 July 2022