Chinese community advocates Rosa Ng and Ng Cortiñas are optimists and both are lobbying for the government to allow the reopening of many Chinese mega stores that have been closed for violating local laws. The owners and supporters complain of discrimination. Eleven Chinese mega stores of around 200 following the same structural model remain closed for violations to labor, tax and construction laws. Most of these stores had been operating for years.
An investigation carried out by Nuria Piera into the subject reveals that government institutions had been notifying the Chinese stores of the irregularities, with these paying fines for the violations. Most of the mega stores have complied with the Dominican laws and have been allowed to open.
Nevertheless, structural engineer Luis Adolfo Abbott, who participated in the inspections for the Ministry of Housing, told Nuria Piera that irregularities were found in all of the around 200 mega stores built nationwide. He said it is not necessary to wait for an earthquake for a disaster. He said when referring to the mega store construction model: “They [the structures] can collapse at any moment, it is a matter of time,” when interviewed by investigative journalist Nuria Piera for the Saturday, 4 October 2025 program.
Minister of Housing (Mived) Carlos Bonilla explained that an inspection carried out by the Onesvie documented the major vulnerabilities. Onesvie is the government agency in charge of checking for vulnerabilities mainly to earthquakes. He said the Ministry has limited staff and capacity to inspect the edifices.
During the Nuria Piera Investiga program aired on Saturday, 4 October 2025, structural engineer Abbott said that the Chinese construction model does not comply with the Dominican nor with the Chinese construction code. The stores were built with the same model imported from China.
During the program that aired on Saturday, 4 October 2025, two of the mega stores are shown with the overload of the roof that the inspection revealed could cause part of the edifices to collapse.
In 2024, the front of one of the stores in Santiago collapsed, a blunt example of why the construction model chosen for the mega Chinese stores is not adequate.
The Ministry of Housing stepped up investigations after the collapse of the roof of the JetSet Club on 8 April 2025. The technical report in the case of the nightclub pointed to the overloading of the roof as the main cause of the tragedy that killed more than 270 persons.
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El Pregonero RD
6 October 2025