President Leonel Fernandez was in Punta Cana on Wednesday for a meeting with the owners of hotels in the east coast. President Fernandez traveled to Punta Cana with First Lady Margarita Cedeno. The meeting took place at the home of Frank Rainieri, of the Punta Cana Group. Press reports on the meeting do not mention the name of the foreign tourism businessmen that were present. Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias, investors in the Punta Cana Group venture, were present. Also attending was Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association.
President Fernandez said that during the meeting the entrepreneurs agreed to a short, medium and long term plan for construction of new infrastructure in the booming tourism area. The government committed to build a new highway that links the Punta Cana area with the Uvero Alto (Macao), the most northern point where hotel development is taking place in the area. The entrepreneurs agreed to take on the construction of an aqueduct and sewage treatment plants to better serve the area. President Fernandez says that the goal is to guarantee tourism development.
President Fernandez also said that government agreed to accelerate works to shorten the time it takes to drive to Punta Cana. He said funding would be available to rehabilitate the Juan Pablo Duarte bridge, complete the remodeling of the Las Americas Expressway at the point where it goes east from the city of Santo Domingo, and the point where it connects to Boca Chica on to the bridge over the Higuamo river of San Pedro de Macoris. He said that the San Pedro de Macoris-La Romana highway would also be completed. Once these works are completed, ground travel time to the East could be reduced by at least another half an hour to three hours.