The Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo announced the Pedernales Master Plan contemplates the construction of 12,000 hotel rooms in the southwestern beach area. The Canadian firm, Lemay developed the plan. The tourism development plan was presented to ambassadors and invited media on Thursday, 16 January 2020.
The government is looking for potential investors to develop the area. The government has also created the Pedernales Tourism Development Trust for studies on the development and infrastructure of the new area targeted for tourism development in the southwest. Montalvo clarified that the Bahia de las Aguilas beach area will continue to be of public use. In the presentation, he pointed out that the government is also promoting farm and small business developments in the area.
René Hubert, principal, director-international for Montreal-based Lemay, shared details from the Pedernales Master Plan with the press and diplomats. He highlighted ecotourism and circuit tourism is being emphasized. The plan is to attract active, adventurous and high standard profile tourism, that are interested in greater bonds with the community. He also mentioned a series of strategies to control the number of visitors to minimize environmental impact.
Present for the government were: Economy Minister Juan Ariel Jiménez; Environment Minister Ángel Estévez; Public Works Minister Ramón Pepín and Hacienda Minister Donald Guerrero. Also attending were the legal advisor to the President Flavio Darío Espinal, and Banreservas administrator Simón Lizardo.
Several ambassadors and diplomats were present. These included: United States Ambassador Robin S. Bernstein; Italian Ambassador Andrea Canepari; European Union Ambassador Gianluca Grippa; Canadian Embassy’s Head of Commercial Affairs, Waleska Rivera; the Spanish Embassy’s Minister-Counselor, Luis Mateo, and the Spanish Embassy’s Economic and Commercial Counselor, Clara Fernández.
Also in attendance were journalists Alicia Ortega, Grupo SIN; Alberto Caminero, Telecentro; Emilio Ortiz, editor of the Economy section of El Nacional; Ramón Tejada, CERTV; Osvaldo Santana, El Caribe; Roberto Cavada, Telesistema; Ricardo Roja León, Red Nacional de Noticias; Melton Pineda, El Zol de la Mañana; Edwin Aristy, Z 101; Pedro Guzmán Badía, La Información, and Wilky Ándujar, Z101 Digital.
Pedernales is a short drive from Haiti. Lemay is also working in Haiti on several development projects. Lemay has consulted on projects in Ile a Vache and Jacmel.
The Academy of Sciences published remarks stating they are in agreement with the Pedernales development plan presented by Lemay.
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