SANTO DOMINGO.- Transport Reform Office (Opret) assistant director on Monday said construction of the Metro’s (subway) second line from the northwest subdivision Los Alcarrizos to the Olympic Center, will be conducted simultaneously from two sites.

Leonel Carrasco said one site will be underneath the Luperón and Kennedy avenues overpass, where the ground is currently being leveled, from which the excavation will advance underground towards Los Alcarrizos. From the second site, located n Olympic Center, the work will begin at the Juan Pablo Duarte station, in the Gomez and Kennedy avenues intersection.

The official said the start of the construction will be "eventually and soon. The preliminary works being done at Luperón avenue is to adhere to the Opret agreement with the groups which aspire to finance second line."

As to the houses and businesses uprooted by the future work, Carrasco said there’ll be no massive evictions and those removed would be recoverable. “The companies that’ll be affected already know the situation and an agreement is being reached with them. Yes there will be displacements, but they will be isolated."

The first stage of the second line, or line 2-A, as the Opret describes it, spans around 13 kilometers with 14 stations and an expected cost of US$790 million.