SANTO DOMINGO.- The Government today begins a busy schedule to inaugurate major public works, until the end of August, demanded by social sectors, as official strategists expect to continue defusing popular tension across the country.

At 11 a.m. today president Leonel Fernandez will start by cutting the ribbon for the Pinalito hydroelectric dam near Bonao (central), whose construction began in 2004, at a cost of US$300 million, with an output o 50 megawatts.

On Thursday the chief executive will also inaugurate the National Water Quality Reference Laboratory, in the main offices of the Potable Waters and Sewage Systems Institute (Inapa), the first of its type in the country, to guarantee optimum potable water, drawn from aqueducts, regulated deposits and pipes, until the homes.

On Friday the Head of State will inaugurate an electrical substation, a bridge and the building of the House of Culture in the border town Elías Piña (west), and by the end of this month, the final span of the San Cristóbal-Baní highway (south), and a hospital in the subdivision Pedro Brand.

New strategy

With the recent rash of strikes and protests staged by popular groups around the country to demand  potable water, an end to the blackouts, locals roads, streets and other works, Fernandez begins what appears to be a new style of governing, consisting of listening to the population’s demands and to make sure the works proceed as planned.