2003 – Page 291

Former President Leonel Fernandez, revving himself up for the 2004 presidential campaign, said that the creation of a commission to revise the government payroll is merely a way for the government to laugh behind Dominicans? backs. Fernandez maintains that it is only logical that the people responsible for firing the ?botellas? (people hired without any …

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The White House in Washington hosted a Dominican Independence Day reception on 27 February, which included the presence of US First Lady, Laura Bush. ?Our nation is inspired by Dominican ideals and enriched by Dominican culture. We celebrate Dominican independence and the Dominican spirit, a spirit of liberty and courage ? a spirit that values …

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President Hipolito Mejia urged Dominicans to ?care for our country? during his 27 February state of the nation address from Congress. Mejia highlighted that these are uncertain times and that many neighboring countries are worse off than the Dominican Republic. He also focused on the difficult foreign situation, while emphasizing that, in 2002, the DR …

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President Hipolito Mejia announced the formation of a commission to study ways in which to reduce government personnel expenditures. The group is to be known as the Comision Nacional para la Adecuacion del Personal en la Administracion Publica.  The business sector and economists have urged the government to reduce its payroll. Several claim that the …

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President Mejia also announced in his 27 February speech that he was sending bills focusing on the fight against government corruption to Congress. One of the bills would transfer the power to appoint the national controller to the Senate, instead of the Executive Branch. When introducing the proposal, the President said the intent was to …

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In his 27 February address, President Mejia announced a new bill to be sent to Congress that would gradually boost city government funds by as much as 10 percent of the national budget in the next two years. City governments now enjoy budgets of 6 percent of the total government budgeted revenues and have been …

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President Mejia announced he would send a bill to Congress to legalize the 10-percent tax recently ordered by decree and which would be applied to approximately 6,000 items. The purpose of the surcharge is to discourage Dominican consumption of imported goods.

President Mejia formally announced the merger of the Dominican Center for the Promotion of Exports (Cedopex) and the Office for the Promotion of Investments (OPI-RD), which is already taking place under OPI director Danilo del Rosario.

Superintendent of Power Julio Cross announced that residential customers will receive increases of about 20 percent in their power bills for March and that industrial customers could expect hikes of about 14 percent. The Superintendence issued Resolution 17-2003 that sets the new rates.  For residential consumers the new energy charges will be:  Consumption of less …

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Despite feasibility studies conducted by the Ministry of Public Works that conclude idea is not practicable, Technical Secretary of the Presidency Rafael Calderon announced the start of construction of the Haina (Santo Domingo) train to Santiago, at a cost of US$325 million. The government granted the concession to the Consorcio Ferroviario Nacional, and guaranteed the …

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