The Abinader administration has included the US$775 million advance payment in the renegotiated Aerodom/Vinci Airports contract in the 2024 National Budget. The budget needs to be passed this month.
The ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) majority in the Chamber of Deputies fast-tracked the Aerodom/Vinci contract with the extra cash for the budget and approved it. The contract moved to the Senate that says it will be sent to committee on Tuesday, 12 December 2023.
To prepare the way for the fast-tracked passing of the 30-year extension of the airport management contract, the Presidency submitted a bill that passed in Congress, enabling the government to circumvent previously binding dispositions.
Opposition spokespeople and others question the rush. The contract does not expire until 2030.
Opcion Democratica deputy Jose Horacio Rodriguez says deputies were given less than 24 hours to study the contract.
Others say the country could be facing another case of the “shadow contract,” referring to the costly badly negotiated privately built Samana tolls road.
Those against the rush, indicate that the country would gain more if the concession was decided in a new tender.
The Senate says it will send the bill to a review committee on Tuesday, 12 December 2023. Only a single reading is needed for the Senate to pass the bill. The ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) is also majority in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Aerodom/Vinci announces that studies have begun for constructing a new terminal at the Las Americas International Airport (SDQ). The investment is contemplated in the extension of the contract.
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7 December 2023