While the multidimensional crisis worsens in Haiti, the Abinader administration has stepped up investments in the border provinces to create incentives for the local population. President Luis Abinader and Economy Minister Pavel Isa Contreras spoke briefly during the presentation of the Border Development Strategy (MiFronteraRD) over the weekend.
The President announced dozens of companies are in the process of investing over US$2.5 billion in Montecristi, Pedernales and Dajabon, provinces on the border with Haiti. The companies will create over 10,000 new jobs in the area. President Abinader says that in 2023 over RD$12 billion was invested by the government in the area.
The goal, according to Isa Contreras, is to reduce poverty and provide improved services of health and education. The minister also noted that government investment has grown from 7.8% of the budget to 12.2% of the budget. Isa Contreras also noted that this works out to over RD$25,000 per person in the region.
Provinces in the border provinces are of the least populated, but the Abinader administration seeks to create new opportunities to keep the population and attract new residents.
The two mega projects in the border area call for investing around RD$40 billion in tourism developments in Pedernales (Cabo Rojo) in the southwest of the border, and another RD$17 billion in investments in the industrial and port developments in Manzanillo Bay to the northwest of the border. The government has announced over RD$15 billion to improve roads and infrastructure and estimates around RD$140 billion in foreign investment will pour into the border area.
President Luis Abinader reported the completion of works in the provinces of Pedernales, Montecristi and Dajabón, in the border area, to the tune of more than RD$2.5 billion. When presenting the Border Zone Development Strategy he said private investment is bringing more than 10,000 jobs in the new businesses in tourism, industry and ports.
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El Caribe
Listin Diario
12 February 2024