Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas said during the government council held yesterday that the new bridge over the Ozama River, parallel to Duarte Bridge, will be ready by May. It is going up at a cost of RD$540 million. He said that the repairs of the old Duarte Bridge will take longer as the bridge is in use. The repair of the bridge had originally been assigned to Conde-Mouchel consortium. Mouchel in August 1998 was given the quality assurance role on the strengthening of the Duarte Bride. Subsequently, though the government decided to continue alone with the project, which has caused significant delays in its completion. Now Vargas says the bridge will be repaired by September. The repair of the old bridge is costing about as much as the construction of the new one. Minister Vargas also promised the Las Americas Expressway works would be completed by March of this year.
