SANTO DOMINGO.- The standoff pitting the townspeople of Pedernales against a Colombian cement company over a tract of land on which investors plan to spend as much as US$800 million on a tourism project could reach the boiling point, for which the province’s Senator warns that their “patience is running thin.”

The lawmaker Dioni Sanchez said Cementos Andino is “inexplicably” blocking development in Pedernales, by refusing to move from the government lands near the port Cabo Rojo, even after the investors have offered to pay for their transfer to another area. “We’ve asked their presence to deal with this and they haven’t attended, we want to know what their position is but we haven’t heard from them.”

He said Andino needs to be moved from those lands provided for their campsite, since it forms part of the planned project.

“They weren’t producing (cement) for several months, but once we announced the project they started production in the areas for the tourism project,” Sanchez said, adding that the investors have even offered to buy around US$17 million in construction materials from the Colombian company.

When asked why Andino would block the project he said includes 2,234 rooms, a marina in town, and the millions of dollars in materials which will have to be bought from the cement maker, Sanchez said “it may be that president Fernandez will have to speak with president (Alvaro) Uribe if there’s a problem, we know they are busy men but I think its high time the project is dealt with.”

He said the Government, through the Tourism Ministry and Mining Agency director Octavio Lopez, has been actively involved in seeking a solution, “despite being insulted by Andino, which was issued a deadline to hand over the facilities.”

All sectors support the investors

Sanchez, interviewed in Hoy Mismo on Colorvision, affirmed that all sectors in the province back the investors. “We also demand to know if as a foreign company, the quota of workers is being respected.”

So why doesn’t the President resolve this? “Fernandez is a president who’s concerned about investment, he was in Pedernales and I told him of the project’s importance and explained it to him, but there’s been no action after the investors elaborated it.”

Sanchez said the Mining Agency had allowed the bauxite company Alcoa to use the now disputed land as a campsite to install their shops and dorms, but Andino fails to recognize that.

“The Pedernales townspeople are working together but losing their patience, we’ll wait till Friday and if there’s no solution we’ll have to look for another route,” he said.

“While other regions demand large government works all we ask is to remove the obstacles against these investments,” added the lawmaker.

Cementos Andio scoffs at “investors”

“How can you build a tourism project atop a cement plant?”

That’s the response today from Agusto Restrepo, Cementos Andino Dominicana Business Development director, in a phone interview with DT from Miami, Florida. “We would love to have 17 million dollars in advance sales for cement, we’re ecstatic.”

Restrepo affirmed that the row is a misunderstanding, which is something “for our legal advisers,” and questioned why if 99% of the beaches are ready for tourism projects, the alleged investors would choose the Cabo Rojo area, next to their plant. “Those investors were previous bauxite brokers who are now after thousands of hectares, we just want to work in peace there, the country is very beautiful.”