The Office for the Reordering of Transportation (Opret), the office in charge of the construction of the Santo Domingo Metro, announced the connection of the tunnel to the María Montez station, located at kilometer 9 of the Duarte Highway, thus integrating it with the present routes of the Santo Domingo Metro and Cable Car network.
A celebratory event was held at the Maria Montez Station on 14 August 2024 marking the connecting of the tunnels as a significant milestone for the completion of the Santo Domingo Metro Extension Project to Los Alcarrizos.
The new line covers a stretch of 7.3 kilometers and consists of five stations. The Santo Domingo Metro Extension Project to Los Alcarrizos or Line 2C involves an investment of approximately US$500 million. The project is scheduled to be inaugurated in December 2024.
Opret explained that this is an eight-meter diameter and 870 linear meters long tunnel, which has been properly waterproofed and has an adequate drainage system. Like the other tunnels that are part of the metro, it will have security systems and electromechanical components.
At the event, executive director of the OPRET, Eng. Rafael Santos Pérez spoke of the impact of the mass transport system on the lives of the residents of Los Alcarrizos and other surrounding areas, who will soon experience time and effort savings in their travels to different points of Greater Santo Domingo for their daily activities.
The official thanked the involved companies and the residents on the critical route of the work, who allowed the transformation of their habitat to materialize this project that will have a significant impact to decongestion traffic on the Duarte Highway.
Likewise, the Opret director highlighted that the extension of the Santo Domingo Metro to Los Alcarrizos is in its final stage with only weeks remaining to complete the installation of the beams that connect the entire 6.5 km elevated mass transit tracks to Los Alcarrizos. In parallel, progress is being made on the adaptation of the stations, which includes the placement of floors, the installation of exterior coverings, escalators, elevators, and emergency stairs.
Construction is by the local company Ingeniería Estrella that had worked closely with Odebrecht when these were a major government contractor during the two Danilo Medina administrations.
“We thank God for allowing us to conclude this part of this majestic work which is the excavation of this tunnel that will connect the viaduct that will take us to the entrance of Los Alcarrizos with Line 2. We thank the President of the Republic Luis Abinader for having entrusted us with this task, the construction company Ingeniería Estrella, which with its experience and perseverance has made it possible to carry out this work that was the critical route of the project due to the difficulties we had over 25 months,” said Santos Perez.
“This has been the most difficult tunnel we have worked on in the country… we had estimated a daily advance of the tunnel between 7 and 10 meters and the truth is that when we got into that mud for months we only advanced less than a meter per day. Completing it is a source of satisfaction. I want to thank the director of Opret, the technical team, and the supervision, this was a team effort, with many decisions made along the way,” explained Estrella, CEO of Ingenieria Estrella.
Hostos Rizik Lugo, executive director of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration for the Dominican Republic (BCIE), expressed that this entity is pleased to provide the financing of the work.
“We are very satisfied with the work of the executing agency, the Opret, in this case with the construction of this important line of the Metro de Los Alcarrizos, Line 2C. We will continue to support and promote development projects and strategic projects that contribute to the development of Dominicans,” said Rizik.
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Opret
El Caribe
15 August 2024