The Director of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (AMET), engineer Hamlet Hermann, revealed yesterday that the entity is currently operating with a RD$30 million deficit and that it has asked for a line of credit for that amount from the Banco de Reservas. Herman explained that the ideal annual budget for AMET for it to complete all the tasks assigned to it would be RD$207 million, but AMET is only receiving RD$48 milion in its first year of operation, the RD$4 million monthly assignation is unchanged since its creation. AMET says it needs more money to acquire vehicles, motorcycles for the Metropolitan Police and computer equipment and programs. Also, AMET wants to hire foreign tarffic management experts, since Dominican experts do not have much experience in creating urban traffic corridors. He said that AMET does not plan to raise further the number of Metropolitan Police from its current level of 500, but rather to make them more efficient with better communication equipment, training and more mobility through use of motorcycles.
