President-elect Leonel Fernandez during his first term in government (1996-2000) oversaw the privatization of the operations of the leading government-owned airports to spare the government from having to fund the needed expansion of these. Only the small Herrera airport located inside Santo Domingo was not privatized. But then, nearing the end of his administration, in 1999 he chose to spend millions to build a new airport in Higuero (northern Santo Domingo) to replace Herrera. Behind the decision was the swapping of debt owed to the contractors of the Duarte Highway expansion for the valuable real estate where the Herrera Airport is located.
From the start, aviation experts protested the site chosen to relocate Herrera. The site was one kilometer from the Duquesa garbage dump that services three million inhabitants, offered inadequate ground to support the airplanes, and was too near the Isabela River, a natural habitant of thousands of birds.
In 2000, despite the problems that had been already identified, the Mejia administration decided to go ahead with the airport, and millions more were invested. The airport was then passed on to Aerodom, the company in charge of the money-producing Puerto Plata and Las Americas airports. Aerodom committed to finish up the terminal and the landing field. Public Works Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado has announced several times that the opening of the airport would be in a few months. The few months have turned into years.
All the warnings back in 1999 proved right and the obstacles for the start of operations at the airport have been insurmountable. Despite that millions more have been poured into the airport to compact the ground, despite Duquesa having been leased to a private company so that it becomes a landfill instead of a dump and attracts less birds, the fact remains there continues to be a high probability of airplanes colliding in air with the birds that have made the Isabela River their habitat. And if that problem is not resolved the US Federal Aviation Agency will not certify the airport for international flights.
The Mejia government has come up with a ?solution? and transferred the Higuero airport to the Dominican Air Force for the use of the military air operations command, presently based in San Isidro. As a consequence, Aerodom, now out of the picture, is demanding from the state restitution for its US$30 million investment to finish up the Higuero airport. And now, unnamed sources within the Air Force tell Hoy newspaper they will not risk their pilots flying into that airport. Furthermore, the same sources say that the airport would make a heavy dent in the Air Force budget.
Publicly, Air Force chief Virgilio Sierra Perez saluted presidential decree 566-04 issued on 23 June that passes the airport to his management within 15 days, saying that the move could be ?favorable and convenient.?
The same decree establishes that the Air Force airbase, San Isidro open to domestic private and commercial aviation in time for the closing of Herrera in early July. All Herrera international flight operations would be transferred to Las Americas International, in eastern Santo Domingo.
Airline companies operating at Herrera International, where fees for airport usage are minimal have stated they are willing to take over the airport on their terms to serve domestic air traffic. Since the relocation was announced, the companies have resisted relocating to Higuero under Aerodom management, which demanded much higher operation fees.
Thus, the airport that is said to have cost three times more than the Santiago or La Romana privately-built international airports, of similar size, is just another white elephant, in the tradition of Presidents ordering the construction of dysfunctional airports. President Joaquin Balaguer can own up to his Arroyo Barril airport in Samana, President Salvador Jorge Blanco can speak about Maria Montez Airport in Barahona, and Leonel Fernandez and Hipolito Mejia can share the credit for the billion plus spent in the Higuero-La Isabela-and now-called Joaquin Balaguer airport. All these airports were begun without the adequate studies that would have spared Dominican taxpayers the futile billionaire expenses.