An opinion piece in Diario Libre today by Carlos Sully Bonelly Ginebra raises the concerns of the lack of transparency in mega projects the government has been executing under the structure of public trusts. The structure removes regular oversight from government actions.
Bonelly Ginebra writes on how public trusts have become one of the main instruments for executing large infrastructures in the Dominican Republic, yet their rapid expansion raises a key question: Which rules should govern their governance and public control?
He observes that the first trust was the Red Vial created during the Danilo Medina administration in 2013. The lack of transparency and free hand of the government in this trust has been questioned. The mechanism allowed the government to make international bond placements guaranteed by the tolls.
The RD Vial Trust was created back in 2013 for the operation, maintenance, and expansion of the country’s main road network, manages the income from the toll system for road maintenance works and infrastructure. According to available financial statements, as of September 2025, the RD Vial trust recorded assets of approximately RD$84.97 billion, equivalent to about US$1.4 billion. These investments are financed mainly through debt issuances backed by toll revenues, with liabilities close to RD$73.49 billion, equivalent to some US$1.22 billion.
Bonelly Ginebra mentions the lack of transparency in the new Fitram trust created by the Abinader administration for the construction of major mass transit infrastructure. He describes the Trust for the Development of the Mass Transportation System (FITRAM) as the institutional vehicle used by the current government to develop some of the most ambitious urban transportation projects in the country.
Yet he warns the mechanism is not subject to the normal oversight in government. “This absence of public information is especially relevant considering the magnitude of the projects it manages,” he writes. Bonelly Ginebra observes that according to estimates disseminated by officials and the media, the Santiago monorail could be around US$1.30 billion, while the Santo Domingo monorail could reach approximately US$1.35 billion, considering the civil works, electromechanical systems, and rolling stock.
The red flag he raises is that “the combination of investments of this magnitude with limited levels of public information raises legitimate questions about the transparency and accountability mechanisms applicable to these structures.”
Just recently, the trust mechanism made headlines when the president of the Chamber of Deputies, long-standing politician Alfredo Pacheco of the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party, made the point of the reduced fiscal control. Pacheco remarked that if the government-backed spaceport in Pedernales is carried out under the public trust law, this would not fall under the oversight of the Congress. Pacheco did not know this was the case and was referring to the lack of public access to what happens in the trusts in general. The spaceport has already been criticized for its lack of transparency regarding the government participation.
Bonelly Ginebra urges that a debate on public trusts address the broader institutional question about which standards of planning, transparency, and fiscal responsibility should be applied to the different models used to finance and manage public infrastructure.
“Used properly, they can provide institutional continuity and execution capacity for complex projects,” he writes. He concludes, nevertheless: “But when their expansion occurs faster than the development of their evaluation and control mechanisms, an inevitable question arises: are we strengthening the capacity of the State or shifting strategic decisions toward less visible institutional structures?”
Another feature in Diario Libre mentions the Fideicomiso Ciudad Juan Bosch and the Fideicomiso Pro Pedernales as examples of other public trusts.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
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Listin Diario
19 March 2026