Easter Week traffic again proved the need for the fast completion of the Bani city bypass. As reported, those headed in both directions took around an hour to cross the small city.
The Ministry of Public Works under Minister Deligne Ascensión is known for the slow pace of advances in public works. On multiple occasions, the Ministry will announce a new date for completion of an important public work. As reported, in Listin Diario, the Bani bypass under the Abinader administration got its start on 26 November 2020. The completion date at the time was announced for September 2021. In March 2024, the Ministry of Public Works now announces it needs another 18 months to complete the same 19.6 km road. The delays usually cost taxpayers billions in extra works that reportedly had not been contemplated in the initial contracted works.
Listin Diario reports that large sections of the bypass are ready but 17 bridges still need to be built for the 19 km extension, from Ojo de Agua in Paya to the Sanchez highway.
Most of the studies for the bypass were completed when Gonzalo Castillo was Minister of Public Works during the Medina administration. The important highway, nevertheless, was not started until the first year of the Abinader administration.
In April 2023, the Ministry of Public Works had said the highway was 70% completed, as El Nuevo Diario reported from a Ministry press release back then. At the time, engineer Roberto Herrera, deputy minister for Supervision and Inspection of the Ministry of Public Works, after meeting with the main executives of the builder company Equipos y Construcciones del Cibao (ECOCISA), said the road should be in operation by the end of 2023.
El Nuevo Diario reports that a press release issued at the time, the Ministry of Public Works had said the budget was over RD$2 billion, beginning in the community of Galión to Ojo de Agua, near the Paya market. The budget back then was redesigned for two lanes and 17 bridges. But now the Ministry of Public Works says it will be another 18 months to finish the road.
The completion of the bypass would cut time for traveling to Barahona or Azua by half an hour to an hour. These are new areas being opened up for international tourism.
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Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Ministry of Public Works
El Nuevo Diario
DR1 News
8 April 2024