The Medina administration is studying the legal ramifications of revoking the contract for toll collection on two Samaná highways in the northeast. The contract contains a clause that establishes that if a pre-set minimum number of vehicles do not use the Samana or the Bulevar Turístico del Atlántico roads and pay the corresponding tolls, the government is obliged to pay a “shadow toll.”
The high tolls that have to be paid to transit on the road that cuts by half the travel distance from Santo Domingo to Samana have discouraged travelers. As a result, the government has paid more than RD$12 billion in shadow tolls over the years.
Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo said that talks are ongoing with Argos, the Colombian company that purchased the contract from the original Colombian construction firm. Castillo said the contract as is not in the best interest of the country. Castillo made the observations when interviewed during the Grupo Corripio media luncheon.
The contractors used international bond investment money and also the contract was guaranteed by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group. Castillo explained the Juan Pablo II highway cost around US$500 million, but the contract has clauses that have made the government double in payments what it agreed to pay to cover the investment. Every year the shadow toll has been increased.
Castillo explained that the government pays more than RD$2 billion a year for the subsidy. The company claims that it is collecting around RD$900 million a year in tolls.
The vehicle charges to use the Samana highways are the most expensive in the country. The cost is RD$910 to reach Samana, but the fare increases to RD$1,066 if motorists take the Bulevar Turistico to the northern part of the peninsula, or Las Terrenas. This compares with tolls for RD$300 to get from Santo Domingo to Punta Cana, a comparable distance.
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Autopistas del Nordeste
18 January 2018
