Source: Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
Posted on: 8th September 2009

Project will back development of road infrastructure to improve travel connections in areas with great tourist potential

The Inter-American Development Bank will support a toll highway project that will reduce the travel time between Santo Domingo and the Samaná peninsula, an area with great tourist potential, located in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic.

The IDB will lend up to $44.8 million without a sovereign guarantee to the Boulevard Turístico del Atlántico project, which will also have joint support from other bilateral and multilateral institutions. Total financing will reach some $149 million.

The project includes the concession for a 123-kilometer tollway with two components: rehabilitation of 99 kilometers of existing highway that connects Nagua, Sánchez, Samaná, El Limón and Las Terrenas, and construction of a new 24-kilometer segment that will connect Las Terrenas and Majagual on the Samaná peninsula.

Overseeing this initiative, whose total estimated cost is $178 million, will be a consortium comprising Colombian construction firms Odinsa and Grodco, and highway concession holders Consorcio Remix of the Dominican Republic.

“This project will have a significant impact, because in addition to the improvements achieved by the Autopistas del Nordeste concession, the travel time between Santo Domingo and Samaná will be cut from five hours to less than two hours,” said IDB team leader Víctor Salgado.

“Development of highway infrastructure will make it easier for local residents, manufacturers, merchants and tourists to move between the peninsula and the southern part of the country, helping the economy grow in a region that is a priority for the Dominican government,” he added.

This transaction is the first loan without a sovereign guarantee that the IDB has approved for a highway project in the Dominican Republic.


Source: http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/international/idb-supports-toll-highway-in-dominican-republic-4033.html

P.S. What do the natives think about this project?

What do the non-native guests think? What does the rest of the world think?