Protests are picking up, with many who love the Botanical Gardens telling the government a big “no” to reducing its size or the areas directly outside the city park’s fence.
In recent weeks and days, the issue has been whether the expansion of the Colombia Avenue would affect the grounds of the National Botanical Gardens.
A lot of the arguments surround the idea that getting traffic to move faster is more important than keeping a corner of the city park.
A technician at the Botanical Gardens told Hoy newspaper that the environmental service of the city park is at about 9,000 tons of carbon dioxide reduction. The park is also a shield against pollution by exhaust gases from cars and trucks. He said that “it is a filter for the air of Santo Domingo.”
In addition, the park preserves most of the native flora, and the area is obviously a wonderful recreational for adults and children alike. The technician called the area “nature’s museum.”
Environmentalists are instead calling for the government to declare the entire area a “protected” area.
The Minister of the Environment Paino Henriquez told reporters at the end of last week that the government projects will affect the Botanical Gardens, but only a tiny bit. He said that the area to be used by the Ministry of Public Works will be just 0.01% of the area of the gardens and none of the really sensitive areas. According to the minister, the remodeling of the Colombia Avenue will reduce travel time on the strategic roadway from an hour and a half to just ten minutes, and this is a great savings of time and possible contamination
Minister of the Presidency Jose Ignacio Paliza has said the government will present the project in an event open to the general public at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday, 23 July 2025.
The government project includes the construction of a road extension that reportedly would affect approximately 200 square meters of the Garden — equivalent to 0.01% of its total area. Although the Ministry of the Environment claims the impact will be minimal and carefully managed, various groups have questioned both the legality and necessity of the project, as reported in N Digital.
“The Constitution and Law 64-00 explicitly prohibit any modification or reduction of protected areas. Even if it’s just a small strip, the precedent is serious,” said a spokesperson for the citizen collective that took part in the protest, as published in N Digital.
Meanwhile, a first general protest took place this Sunday at the Botanical Gardens. Dominican moviemaker Jose Maria Cabral stressed the capital city once was full of green, and today the progressive and pro-development stands especially of the central government and the National District government have resulted in the capital city being mostly cement with very little trees. Cabral called for preserving the outside and inside of the Botanical Gardens and taking a step forward to put back the trees in Santo Domingo, instead of cutting down trees and reducing green areas.
In addition to the project that will cut the greenery at the Botanical Gardens, the government continues to build new cement venues in the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, that was originally created as a major city park and today is falling prey to the construction of cement venues. Reports of the topping of 300 trees as the government renovates the city park for the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2026.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
CDN
N Digital
Hoy
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Jose Maria Cabral
El Nacional
Hoy
Olympic Center
CDN
21 July 2025