Archive for January, 2019
Some 20 kilometers of the border with Haiti are populated by avocado trees, as part of a huge agricultural venture that reaches into the shelves of Walmart. Over 70,000 tareas (422,000,000 m2) of land in the area of El Calimete in the impoverished province of Elias Piña has been planted with highly selected varieties of avocado (mostly Hass), and the company has another 30,000 tareas in in San Jose de Ocoa.
As reported in El Dia, the farm belongs to Manuel Castillo Pimentel and has become the largest employer along the border with some 1,600 workers, which allows both Dominicans and Haitians to remain in the area. Castillo Pimentel told reporters from El Dia that the trees begin life as seeds in nurseries in San Jose de Ocoa, and at a very early age they are grafted by experts with the Hass variety of avocados that is what Walmart and BJ’s request. There are 300 persons employed in Ocoa for this purpose.
The MACAPI nursery produces some 300,000 plants a year, mostly for the farm in Elias Piña. Every avocado harvested is sold. According to the report, the climate in El Calimete is similar to that of Constanza, at 1,700 meters above sea level.
The project has not been easy and the company has had to construct some 300 kilometers of roads, including parts of the International Highway. Given the size of the production and the very strict demands of their customers, the company had to open a packing facility in Mexico in order to keep up with the demand. Castillo Pimentel called this move “one of the most important decisions to achieve the market we now have.”
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Jan 25, 2019
The US$125 million cost of the complete restructuring of Puerto Plata bay for multiple usage will be covered by the concessionaire, Puerto Plata Post Investment, which won the public tender for the project. The basic idea is to convert the old Puerto Plata city port area into a center for import-export commerce.
The commercial name of the cruiseship port is Taino Bay. The company is supposed to build and repair three wharves: one for cruise ships; one for freight and one for fishermen.
Victor Gomez Casanova, the executive director for the Dominican Port Authority, emphasized the economic impact of the project. The public-private alliance covers the construction of a special wharf for commercial fishermen together with a series of collateral projects for the development of the port area.
According to Gomez Casanova, just in the first year, the project is supposed to serve some 600,000 cruise line passengers. According to the press release, the Taino Bay people have already sealed deals with four of the major cruise lines, and, again according to the Port Authority director, in the second year, the number of visitors is expected to reach one million. In the more immediate future, the construction project is expected to create some 6,500 jobs.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Jan 25, 2019
On Friday, January 25th, president Juan Oscar Souffront (Yanco) of the Carnival Association of Puerto Plata will announce the carnival program of Puerto Plata at a press conference. On Sunday afternoon, February 3rd, the carnival starts with a parade on the Malecon, Puerto Plata. In the subsequent weekends of 10th, 17th and 24th of February the Carnival celebrations will continue. On Saturday, March 9th, the end of the Carnival season takes place with a final parade at 2:30pm on Malecon, Puerto Plata
Source: Sosua News
Jan 22, 2019
A group of around 40 persons disguised as clowns have begun a protest walk from the Monumento a los Heroes de la Restauración in Santiago to the Basilica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia in Higuey, a distance of approximately 317 km. The protest march is to call attention to the increasing number of sexual abuses to minors and child abuse.
The “Caminando por una sonrisa” (Walking for a Smile) expects to reach Higuey in time for the 21 January celebrations of the Day of the Lady of Altagracia at the basilica.
Joan Martínez, (Payamín), organizer of the protest march, says: “The message we want to deliver is that we as clowns are not just to make people laugh with joke after joke. Rather, we are also parents and social entities concerned about the degradation of seeing abused children walk the streets, homeless minors who are victims of exploitation,” said Martínez.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Jan 22, 2019
Precipitate Gold Corporation announced it is now the owner of all Everton Resources Inc. exploration concessions in the Dominican Republic. This includes Pueblo Grande Project, adjoining Barrick’s and Goldcorp’s world-class Pueblo Viejo gold-silver mine, and the Ponton Project located approximately 30 km east of Pueblo Grande. Precipitate said that Mejico Angeles-Lithgow, formerly president and executive director of the Barrick-Pueblo Viejo mining operation, has joined their advisory team.
The company announced that Pueblo Grande’s immediate exploration priority will be the area directly west of Barrick’s mining pits, where a notable geophysical magnetic high coincides with an equally substantial area of advanced argillic lithocap alteration. This highly prospective lithocap target area measuring approximately 2.5 km by 3 km has seen little systematic exploration and will be the focus of initial phases of work.
Source: https://www.geologyforinvestors.com/…ican-republic/
Jan 22, 2019
The Dominican Republic is featured among the top five countries in Latin America with the best ground road infrastructure. But there is always a wish list of more. Former Minister of Public Works, engineer Pedro Delgado Malagón (1982-1986) shares with readers the locations of missing roads in a report in El Caribe newspaper today.
He says a highway is needed to connect the northern beach destinations with the Cibao. Likewise, new tourism destinations in Azua and Peravia could benefit from better road connections.
He says a doubling in the number of lanes is needed for the roads connecting Puerto Plata to Nagua and to Samana and the construction of a new road connecting Puerto Plata and Montecristi to foster development of tourism potential of that northwestern province.
He would like to see the doubling of the lanes connecting Baní, San Juan de la Maguana and Elías Piña, as well as Baní, Barahona, Oviedo and Pedernales.
He would like to see the fast completion of the Azua bypass and the start of the construction of the bypass of Baní and those of San Juan de la Maguana and Barahona. And he says there is a need for bypasses regarding the cities of San Francisco de Macoris and Higuey.
The Dominican Republic has a road network of 5,400 km of highways, and 12,800 of rural roads.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Jan 22, 2019
Digesett agents will be ensuring as of Friday, 17 January 2019 that truckers adhere to driving exclusively in the right lane on avenues and highways. Trucks and cargo vehicles are also now limited to driving at 70kph on highways and at a maximum of 55kph on other roads. The new ruling for Transit Law 63-17 establishes heavy fines for violation of these measures. The spokesman for Digesett, Hillman Pimentel said that the transit body would be using radars to control the speed limits. The cargo vehicles are also mandated to keep a distance of 150 meters from the vehicle in front of them. The fines are equal to two minimum decentralized public sector wages.
Source: DR1, Listindario
Jan 22, 2019
President Danilo Medina was in Puerto Plata on Tuesday, 15 January 2019, for the symbolic start of the remodeling of the Puerto Plata cargo dock and the construction of a cruise ship terminal and docks. The project will also include the construction of a special dock for fishing boats, the dredging of the port area and a series of associated port works.
The remolded Puerto Plata port is being promoted as a “multipurpose national port” and will have capacity to receive three cruise ships simultaneously as well as high capacity cargo ships. The project calls for an investment of around US$125 million. Víctor Gómez Casanova, executive director of the National Port Authority, said that he already has commitment letters from five of the leading cruiselines in the Caribbean that will ensure that in the first year of operations around 650,000 cruise passengers will arrive on multiple ships.
Gómez Casanova explained the contract was won by the same Mexican company that operates the ports of Costamaya, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and in Honduras. The Mexican company, Promociones Turísticas Mahahual won the tender carried out by the government for the port and is working together with the local partner, Consorcio Puerto Plata Port Investments in the construction of the port.
The new cruise ship facility will be marketed as Taino Bay. This would be the second cruise ship facility in Puerto Plata. A first, Amber Cove is successfully operated by Carnival Cruise, is located 20 minutes south of the city in Maimón.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Jan 22, 2019
The most numerous number of foreigners in the country are Haitians. But statistics indicate that the first place in securing legal residencies last year went to Venezuelans.
According to the Migration Agency, in 2018, the country granted 16,709 residencies of which 2,675 went to Venezuelan nationals. In second place were Haitians with 1,922, followed by United States nationals with 1,672 and surprise, Chinese nationals, with 1,485.
According to the National Immigrant Survey (ENI 2017), some 87.2% of the 570,933 foreigners in the country are from Haiti, and up to 2016 they were in first position in the national list of issued residencies, with 2,790 issued whereas Venezuelans were in second place with 749.
According to the Center for the Observation of Migration of Social Development in the Caribbean (OBIMCA) by 2017, the number of Venezuelan residencies issued increased to 1,748 and for Haitians it decreased to 964.
Residencies to all foreigners over the last five years have increased from 4,704 in 2013, to 14,485 in 2017. Those countries whose numbers of residencies have increased include Spain, United States, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Italy.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Jan 22, 2019
Since November 2017, persons with expired driver’s licenses are required to pay not only the cost of renewal, but also a fine that is the cost of renewal multiplied by the number of years the document has been out of date.
Each day, the Driver’s License Office at the National Institute of Terrestrial Transit and Transport (Intrant) receives and services dozens of drivers who have failed to renew their licences. The Intrant says they have seen many cases of people having to pay fines of RD$10,000 and RD$15,000 to renew their license as it has been between 10 and 15 years since they last renewed.
The normal cost of renewal is RD$890. Those letting their licenses expire for three years in addition to the penalty have to sit for an hour long educational talk that adds an additional RD$550 to the renewal cost.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Jan 22, 2019
