2006 – Page 14

The baseball season marches on and the road to the playoffs is on the horizon. The Gigantes refuse to give away an inch in the Winter League standings as they beat Licey last night 5-3. The Gigantes hold a tight grip on first and they are now 4.5 games ahead of third place Licey. The …

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The 2006 Latinobarometro Report, an annual public opinion survey featuring findings on what citizens think of their governments, and what their priorities should be, as well as the quality of democracy, was released on 8 December. Carried out by a Chilean-based NGO, the report is the compilation of approximately 19,000 interviews in 18 Latin American …

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Figures presented by the Ministry of Environment show that 60% of Dominicans live along the coast, and another 20% lives within 10 kilometers of the coastline. Approximately 4.3 million people in 17 of the country’s 32 provinces inhabit coastal zones, making use of coastal resources, but at the same time contributing to the deterioration of …

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The Office of Government Works Supervisory Engineers and the United Nations Development Program signed an agreement yesterday in preparation for a bill aimed at regulating government contracting of major infrastructure works, such as roads, bridges and hospitals. Felix Bautista signed for the government and Nicky Fabiancic represented the UNDP. Batista, speaking on behalf of the …

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The government has invested RD$125 million since it began the rehabilitation of landing fields in remote areas. The Airport Department has invested RD$45 million in the Constanza airfield in the central highlands valley area, RD$28 million in the Cabo Rojo airfield (Pedernales) on the southwest coast, and RD$35 million in Monte Cristi on the northwest …

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The power distribution companies, EdeSur, EdeNorte and EdeEste have fallen short of the level of collections for power served so far up to October this year. Diario Libre reports that their cash recovery indexes, agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund, have averaged 84.5% of the revenues collected for the service, reduction of losses and …

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The Central Electoral Board has approved a ruling whereby they will establish a range of fixed wages from RD$25,000 to a maximum of RD$60,000 for civil registrar officers. Previously, civil registrar officers were allowed to keep a large percentage of all their official revenues.

Dominican business representatives are standing by their position that new taxes would not be necessary if the government eliminated superfluous spending. As reported in Hoy newspaper, Elena Viyella, president of the National Council for Private Business (CONEP) told senators that the fiscal reform proposed by President Fernandez is unnecessary. She said that the government should …

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The National Council of Free Zones (CNFE) has approved the installation of 76 new companies in free trade zone industrial parks across the country. The companies propose to invest US$136.5 million and create 11,000 jobs at their factories. Of these, 56 will operate in existing parks and another 19 were authorized for operation outside these.

Fesurno workers union in Santiago says that another 20,000 workers will be fired this Christmas in local manufacturing parks. As reported in Hoy newspaper, he attributes the dismissals to high operating costs, primarily when it comes to labor and electricity, and the effect of the phasing out of the Multi-fiber Agreement and the elimination of …

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