BAITOA, Dominican Republic.- The road linking the Central Mountain towns of Baitoa and Sabana Iglesia has deteriorated to the point that residents just wait and hope some authority responds to their demand to repair the bridge over the Yaque river, newspaper Hoy reports.

They said since Baitoa has no hospital, bank or other basic services, their inhabitants must rely on Sabana Iglesia, dealing not only with the tattered road, but also the dangerous crossing of the boulder-pocked riverbed.

Eddy González, a journalist from Sabana Iglesia who works in a Baitoa radio station, said the governments have forgotten those communities, because despite that more than 20 years have gone by since the bridge’s reconstruction began, no agency has taken on its completion. “Since there are no hospitals here, there have been patients who died on the way to Sabana Iglesia because it’s difficult to travel and the situation is worse when the river grows, because you need to make a long route through the Tavera dam.”

González said the lack of the bridge most affects the communities La Presa, El Callejón, El Corral, La Lima, Los Sánchez, Boca de los Ríos, La Galeta, La Joya and La Lomita.

The bridge was built more than 20 years ago and collapsed partially in a torrent of the Yaque, for which Public Works minister Victor Diaz last year pledged to start its reconstruction by the start of 2011, but the lack of investment to fix the structure has subjected its frame to massive corrosion over the years.