President Leonel Fernandez gave RD$7,000,000 to the engineers working on the repair of the Estadio Julian Javier, home of the new professional baseball team, the Gigantes del Nordeste. The team is to begin play on 25 October, the first day of the Professional Winter Baseball League. The engineers of the Ministry of Public Works and the JUSANCA construction company have been working on the stadium since early this year, when the new team’s participation was announced. There had been fears that the stadium would not be finished in time for the new season, yet the Ministry has promised that it will be ready by 10 October if the central government contributes the additional RD$14 million which has to be paid to JUSANCA, according to the contract signed between the two parties in early 1996.