President Hipólito Mejía signed yesterday a cooperation memorandum for the donation of US$2.5 million with United States government during his visit to New York for the Summit of the Millennium. The agreement was signed by the President and Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of the US Housing and Urban Development Department. The money will be used to improve housing, primarily in Ozama River area, that was destroyed by Hurricane Georges in September 1998. The funding will be matched with RD$50 million from the Dominican government and will start a novel project where 12,000 low income families will be able to receive cash grants to be used as down payment on loans to improve or rebuild their dwellings in metropolitan Santo Domingo. For more information on the program, see http://www.hud.gov/pressrel/pr00-237.html
