Well, back home! I reset my GPS at Jumbo in La Romana. Total transit time from downtown La Romana to my place in the heart of Bavaro (including a gas stop)...57 minutes. I like that very much!!! It used to be over 2 hours.

The road has no surprises and in honestly makes all other roads here look embarrassingly poor. The signage is great, as are the lines and intersections. Speed limit is 100kph, although most were driving 110 to 115kph.

It is like 45 minutes of being back home...and suddenly being re-awakened once you hit the poorly executed Tourist Boulevard from Punta Cana airport to Bavaro...a road that has NO SIGNAGE to tell you where to stop and where not to...VERY DANGEROUS INTERSECTIONS and pavement that varies in levelness. Add to that the idiot cab drivers and bus drivers....passing oncoming traffic and forcing you to the shoulder of the road (3 times in 5 miles today).

So...in summary...a BIG two THUMBS WAYYYYYYY UP. Now...to get the existing local roads up to speed. But...that is just another dream at this point!

Cheers

Punta Cana Mike

PS...MAKE SURE to get gas at either the Shell in Punta Cana or in La Romana....nothing in between and if you run out...you are not going to be happy! I ran on the empty stick for 25km's.

Is it a toll road?

You betcha it is. But at the present rate of $6.00 (US) + a gallon of fuel, the saving alone of time and gas it well worth the money.

How much is the toll, and where is the toll station located?

Sorry, I apologize for my mistake. I confused this project with the Boulevard Turistico del Atlantico (BTA) Toll Road Project which seeks to facilitate tourism in Samaná. I have no information to neither confirm nor contradict what I previously stated. However, if it does in fact have a toll it is well worth paying the price as long as it is not abusive.

I remember driving a Mexican toll road, some 18 years ago. The highway was clean, pristine and efficient and if I recall correctly I paid the equivllent of about $30 US dollars a couple of times during a two or three hour drive. I thought it was steep, but when I compared it to their regular, non-toll roads, there was no doubt a major difference in quality and well worth the money.

I don't believe that the Coral highway has a toll, and I was curious, but I don't think so. Maybe the originator of this thread can enlighten us.

Fernandez inaugurates Coral Highway

Speaking in La Romana during the inauguration of the new Coral Highway yesterday, Wednesday 8 August, President Leonel Fernandez defended the public works projects built by his administration, saying that they represent "irrefutable proof" that the Dominican Republic has been radically transformed over the last eight years. He said that his administration has implemented infrastructure projects that in his opinion represent the advancement and the progress of the Dominican nation. In support of his statements, Fernandez listed some other major roadbuilding projects: construction of highways between Santo Domingo and Samana, San Cristobal and Bani, Km15 of Azua and San Juan de la Maguana, San Juan de la Maguana and Barahona, San Juan and Elias Pina, Corredor Duarte and others. "In these eight years there has been a radical transformation across the whole country, as a result of the efforts, work and determination of a government team only interested in raising up the Dominican Republic.

Fernandez made it clear that the dream of Dominicans was to build a democracy, which at the same time would guarantee them the freedom and the full exercise of their basic rights, goals that he felt that his administration had accomplished. The President also referred to the 13% tax burden, stressing the fact that this is below the regional and world average.

The Coral Highway, which links La Romana with Punta Cana, reduces driving time from Santo Domingo to the east coast tourist area to about 2 hours. The 70km highway was built at a cost of US$400 million by Brazilian firm Odebrecht

[QUOTE=guillermone]
[B]Fernandez inaugurates Coral Highway[/B]

Speaking in La Romana during the inauguration of the new Coral Highway yesterday, Wednesday 8 August, President Leonel Fernandez defended the public works projects built by his administration, saying that they represent "irrefutable proof" that the Dominican Republic has been radically transformed over the last eight years. He said that his administration has implemented infrastructure projects that in his opinion represent the advancement and the progress of the Dominican nation. In support of his statements, Fernandez listed some other major roadbuilding projects: construction of highways between Santo Domingo and Samana, San Cristobal and Bani, Km15 of Azua and San Juan de la Maguana, San Juan de la Maguana and Barahona, San Juan and Elias Pina, Corredor Duarte and others. "In these eight years there has been a radical transformation across the whole country, as a result of the efforts, work and determination of a government team only interested in raising up the Dominican Republic.

Fernandez made it clear that the dream of Dominicans was to build a democracy, which at the same time would guarantee them the freedom and the full exercise of their basic rights, goals that he felt that his administration had accomplished. The President also referred to the 13% tax burden, stressing the fact that this is below the regional and world average.

The Coral Highway, which links La Romana with Punta Cana, reduces driving time from Santo Domingo to the east coast tourist area to about 2 hours. The 70km highway was built at a cost of US$400 million by Brazilian firm Odebrecht
[/QUOTE]

"The President also referred to the 13% tax burden, stressing the fact that this is below the regional and world average."

[B]I've often referred to just this stat as proof that DR's ability to enact a serious developmental regime is handicapped by its very low rate of taxation. 13% tax burden, while high for traditional Dominican taste, is very low in comparison to world and even regional standards. That is why it's been so difficult to fully fund education, as it's done in countries like Costa Rica, and provide the overall modernity in services the nation-people- require. We Dominicans have had a very low tax burden throughout the years, and many of us have become inured to its devastating results: poor educational opportunities, poor sanitation, poor housing, etc. These undesirable outcomes have only recently been turned towards towards a better corrective pathway, but the habituate nature of long established practices(not paying taxes, stealing services) will not die so easily.

"4.2 una presión fiscal muy baja y un presupuesto sin margen de maniobra

La apertura del país a los intercambios internacionales ha llevado a la República Dominicana a ser muy dependiente de la evolución de los mercados. Por consecuencia, para asegurar la estabilidad económica, haría falta que el Estado pudiera implementar políticas contra cíclicas para sostener la demanda cuando sea necesario, y sobre todo garantizar la protección social y evitar que la población vea la globalización como una fuente de peligros, más que como una oportunidad para el porvenir. Sin embargo, las finanzas públicas están particularmente limitadas.

[COLOR=#ED1C24]
De todos los Estados latinoamericanos, la República Dominicana es uno de los países donde
la presión fiscal es más reducida. En función de los ciclos económicos, esta presión se sitúa
en un rango comprendido entre 13% y 15% del PIB, cuando se necesitaría una tasa del 24%
según el Banco Mundial, para poder implementar las políticas necesarias. pp.36-38"[/COLOR]

One clear example of how vexing this problem is in the DR context is found in the inactment of changes to the reporting statue for businesses in DR in 2008. The law governing such reporting HAD BEEN IN THE BOOKS UNCHANGED SINCE 1842-4 [URL]http://www.economia.gob.do/UploadPDF/Informe_Attali.pdf[/URL] This has led to a culture of not paying for services, as the author's of the study state:


"Hacer obligatoria la publicación de los estados de las empresas Eje Estratégico de la END n°3
contexto

El Código del Comercio dominicano fue promulgado en 1844 inspirándose en el Código
de Napoleón, y no se reformó hasta 2008. [ ] Muchas empresas han permanecido de este
modo siendo empresas familiares sin obligación de transparencia y de publicación ante las
instituciones financieras. Así, no fue hasta 2008 cuando se votó una ley que defiende los
intereses minoritarios en las empresas, dándoles acceso a las cuentas de estas últimas. Hoy,
el Doing Business Report muestra un índice “Extent of Disclosure” de 5 sobre 10, frente a una
media de 5 en América Latina, pero de 5.9 en los países de la OCDE. La publicación y la
transparencia de las empresas privadas permitirá facilitar las operaciones defusiones/adquisiciones y por tanto la reorganización de los sectores para alcanzar economías de escala, mejorar el acceso al crédito dando más elementos a los bancos para evaluar, y tranquilizar
a los inversores extranjeros sobre el estado de salud de la economía dominicana." [p.98]

"A partir de entonces, cada dominicano llega a resolver los problemas colectivos mediante soluciones individualistas, incluso anarquistas, como muestra la mentalidad del “No Pago”."[pp.23-24]

Massive under-reporting of earnings was , of course, the result throughout many generations. Dominicans habituated themselves towards these self-destructive and low yielding outcomes. Outsiders (USA) did not force Dominicans into these poor practices. Only Dominicans can change this traditional regime and enforce a more modern and competent institutional framework and more importantly, awareness and shared sacrifice across the nation-state.[/B]

Bajo la dirección de Jacques Attali

Miembros de la Comisión: Rafael (Pepe) Abreu • Rosa Rita álvarez • Cyrille Arnould •
Carlos Asilis • José Luis Corripio • Mathilde Lemoine • Jeffrey Owens • Mario
Pezzini • Eduardo Jorge Prats • Marc Stubbe • Ian Whitman
Noviembre 2010

Informe de la Comisión Internacional para
el Desarrollo Estratégico de la República Dominicana




http://www.economia.gob.do/UploadPDF/Informe_Attali.pdf