The representative of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Coronado Hunter, in an interview with Diario Libre said there is no deadline for the start of the second phase US$90 million loan approved for the continuing urban renewal works in the historic city center area. He said the first US$30 million loan report on restoration of the Ovando City of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo is due in September 2018 and conversations. He said conversations are ongoing to attribute different responsibilities to government institutions that would be involved in the management of the second loan. The first loan was responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism. Coronado says the intention is for the second loan to be a continuity of the first.
Coronado advanced that the second phase calls for renovations in the northern area, including the barrios of San Antón, San Miguel and Santa Bárbara. Also for the controversial intervention of the San Francisco Monastery Ruins. The winner of the tender met with strong opposition from the Dominican chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and city residents.
The second phase calls for the reconstruction of the city wall to the north of the Colonial City. Also a lineal park alongside the Ozama River and US$5 million for the restoration of the Mercado Modelo, the city produce market that is located on Av. Mella, and that has evolved into an arts and crafts market.
Coronado said the effort seeks that people continue to live in the Colonial City and environs and that the area not be turned into a museum city. The second loan contemplates incentives for up to US$18,000 per dwelling for property owners to renovate their property and keep within the family that has been renting.
He said both the city government of the National District and the National Transit and Transport Institute (Intrant) are working on solutions for parking and progressive pedestrianization of the city. He observed that issues such as the poor condition of 25% of the dwellings, the fact that 72% of the edifices do not have regular property titles complicate matters in the Colonial City and environs.
The IADB project is focusing on around 100 blocks in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo. The bank has carried out similar historic center renovations in Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru, Bahía, Brazil; Antigua, Guatemala.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Tu Ciudad Colonial
30 July 2018
