The Ministry of Public Works chose the Brazilian-Dominican consortium, Méndez Junior-Méndez Cabral for the construction of two tunnels at the 27 de Febrero Avenue and the expansion of that avenue to 10 lanes. The company which has won two tenders to choose the contractor of the tunnels has restarted the works that have been paralyzed for several weeks as a result of an impasse between former Minister of Public Works Jimmy Durán and administrative secretary of the Presidency, engineer Diandino Peña, actual Minister of Public Works. The company won the first contest for the works that was held in 1994. The work met with the opposition of businesses in the area, and the project was suspended by the then Balaguer administration. In March 1997, the contest was again held, but then Minister of Public Works Jimmy Durán disagreed with the costings of the project and instead purchased construction equipment so that the Ministry of Public Works itself could carry out the work , arguing that the winners of the tender had over evaluated the cost of the project.
