2010 – Page 77

Haiti continues to be defined as a Failed State in the annual index published by the United States Foreign Policy magazine, as it occupies the #11 position out of 177 countries. Meanwhile, although it improved by five places and is located now at number 93, the Dominican Republic continues to be defined as a borderline …

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The Norberto Odebrecht Construction Company has contracts worth some US$500 million dollars in the Dominican Republic, according to the company’s administrative and financial director, Claudio Madeiros. Madieros told El Caribe reporters that the company has four big projects that are of major importance to the nation: The Coral Expressway, the Duarte Corridor, the Palomino Dam …

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Song lyrics aside, Santiago city council members have begun to collect their RD$100,000 pay checks this month, instead of the RD$80,000 that they earned as their fixed salary. This has generated criticism from several quarters. The council members’ salary was previously RD$65,000 plus RD$15,000 for commissions which brought the total to RD$80,000, as reported in …

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First Lady Margarita Cedeno has presented awards to the winners of the annual elementary and high school mathematics, reading and spelling contests. During the ceremony, Cedeno said that the contests stimulated young people’s intellectual development. She said that thousands of students from private and public schools all around the country have taken part. The winners …

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First Lady Margarita Cedeno tried to justify the government’s spending on education on Twitter and got into a bit of hot water with some people telling her to “just shut up!” According to Hoy newspaper, Cedeno tried to compare the situation in Panama where the government is spending 9% of the GDP on education without …

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Writing in today’s Listin Diario, Father Juan Linares, director of the Don Bosco children’s educational programs in the DR, appeals to the government to increase their allocation. Father Linares says that last year they received RD$10 million, of a budget of RD$150 million, but the government did not disburse the last two monthly payments. This …

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The country’s leading center for physical rehabilitation and support for disabled people, the Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion (ADR), was founded when a mother chose to make a difference for her son, born with polio. Today her son, Celso Marranzini, is an eminent business leader and has taken on the challenge of fixing the electricity system, …

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The National District City Government (ADN) has responded to recent statements from the president of the National Hotel & Tourism Association (Asonahores) on needed improvements to the Malecon. The city government says that ADN units remove tons of garbage from the Malecon every day. The ADN complains that the hotels and restaurants do not meet …

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The president of the National Business Council (CONEP), Lisandro Macarrulla, has called on Congress to speed up the approval of the modifications to the General Law on Commercial Societies and Limited Responsibility Individual Companies (479-08). Macarrulla was speaking to news reporters as he and other top business leaders visited the Senate Justice Commission to try …

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High manufacturing costs, due in part to the high cost of electricity and labor, and government taxes and red tape have deterred Dominican companies from exporting. Nonetheless the president of the Dominican Association of Exporters, Kai Schoenhals and the executive vice president of the Association of Industries of the DR (AIRD) Circe Almanzar, say that …

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