The city council of Santo Domingo is prosecuting the coordinator of the Oficina Supervisora y Fiscalizadora de Obras del Estado, engineer Bienvenido Mart\u00ednez Brea and six other people, including its architect and contractor, Roberto Berg\u00e9s, dean of architecture of the Universidad Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a, who are involved in the construction of a geriatric hospital on property belonging to the municipality on grounds of the former Perla Antillana race track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe case was lodged in the Primera C\u00e1mara\nPenal del Juzgado de Primera Instancia by the legal advisor to the city council\nand handed personally to Judge Miriam Germ\u00e1n by Mayor Rafael Suberv\u00ed Bonilla.\nMayor Suberv\u00ed is a second-time mayor of Santo Domingo and a PRD politician with\npresidential aspirations. The judge set the court session for 13 February at 9\nam. The municipality is basing its case on the alleged violation of property\nrights and abuse of power under Law 5869 and Art. 188 of the Penal Code.
\nThe impasse between the central government and\nthe city council began last year when the latter condemned the occupation of\n25,000 square meters on the site by contractors to the office of Mart\u00ednez Brea\nfor the construction of the geriatric center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, the council protested because the action\ncontravened the agreement whereby the municipality granted 40,000 meters of the\nplot to the government for the construction of a maternity\/children’s hospital.\nThe grounds on which the race track was sited are property of the city. The\ncouncil sent legal notice for the suspension of construction and even requested\nthe National Police stop the work. The Mayor said that even President Joaqu\u00edn\nBalaguer recognized the Municipal Resolution 182-95 issued to stop the work and\nordered its cessation after meeting with Rafael Suberv\u00ed. Nevertheless, the\ncontractors continued building the center alleging it was of “extreme\nimportance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nArchitect Roberto Berg\u00e9s has answered the\nlegal case against him by saying that there will not be two hospitals in the\nnew Ciudad de la Salud, but four. He said that the project will have a cost of\nRD$250 million and include a maternity\/children’s hospital, a geriatric center,\na trauma center and a sophisticated unit for advanced medical diagnoses to be\nrun in coordination with Harvard University. The chief consultant for the\nmedical center is a company that has assisted in the construction of the state\nmedical network in Spain. One of Mr. Berges’ arguments in a full-page paid\nnewspaper advertisement was that in contrast to what the city council and some\nmembers of the news media have stated, over 200,000 square meters will be left\nfor the city council even after the construction of the hospitals.
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19-25 January 1996<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The city council of Santo Domingo is prosecuting the coordinator of the Oficina Supervisora y Fiscalizadora de Obras del Estado, engineer Bienvenido Mart\u00ednez Brea and six other people, including its architect and contractor, Roberto Berg\u00e9s, dean of architecture of the Universidad Pedro Henr\u00edquez Ure\u00f1a, who are involved in the construction of a geriatric hospital on … <\/p>\n