Ciudad Mar promoters, Gustavo More and Pedro Borrell and Elogio Santaella met with Santo Domingo Mayor Roberto Salcedo yesterday. The promoters are requesting city permission to build an artificial island facing the mid section of the Santo Domingo Malecon. The promoters say they have also requested the Ministry of Environment permit.
The 3.8 km artificial island would be built between Winston Churchill and the area of the Obelisco Macho, as reported in Hoy newspaper. The project would be privately funded. It calls for the construction of a major commercial center and several hotels facing Maximo Gomez. The promoters argue that the island does not take from the city rather it creates new area and enhances the worth of the Malecon sea-bordering area. The island would be connected to the mainland by a green area and four bridges.
Its promoters explain that the island will be beneficial to the area because the developers will assume the costs of restoring the presently contaminated waters. The waters suffer from sewage and industrial waste discharges coming down from the Ozama River. Architects More and Borrell say they have spent millions in the preliminary environmental feasibility studies.
El Caribe newspaper reports today that there may be a marriage of the government promoted yet very controversial metro line and the Ciudad Mar project. The soil unearthed in the proposed excavations for the construction of the Santo Domingo first 10 km-subway line could be used for the artificial island.
Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill is a supporter of the project that would be for the most part funded by international investors.