Santo Domingo.- The beaches are Dominican Republic’s tourism’s sweetest caramel but the fact its capital doesn’t have one is a disadvantage for the Santo Domingo market.

“If the situation could change in the medium term it would become the second most important tourism region second only to Punta Cana-Bavaro,” says a report on diariolibre.com by the consultant Juan Llado.

The idea of an artificial beach for the capital coast is not new as the project was in the offing during the city’s Mayoral tenure of 1982-1986, to give the city an attractive recreational option for the population and tourists.

It was perhaps that interest which led the French company Sogreah to draft in 1987the first tentative project for Sans Soucí beach, built before the 1960s as the wave breaker for the Ozama River’s estuary and port.

Sogreah’s plan included hotels, a marina, convention center and four beach alternatives to protect the swimming area from the waves’ constant onslaught. A group of experts selected what they thought best and led to the current location.

But its study confirmed that Sans Soucí beach’s expansion is quite feasible, at the cost of US$17 million then.

The most recent proposal for new beaches is from the Spanish Group Acciona, as  part of the discarded project Artificial Island, which included the creation of a lake between the coast and the new soil.

President Leonel Fernandez abandoned the project, despite being approved by Congress, to calm an irate public opinion. It visualized three beaches; in front of the Meliá Hotel, in the small beach at Güibia and in front of the Vesubio restaurant.

“Though praiseworthy, these pretensions aren’t financially viable in the medium term. The necessary resources will have to come from the central Government and the fiscal perspective isn’t good in the short term,” Llado says.

He said the current beach at Sans Soucí has been leased to a group of companies led by Vicini, which is now creating a mother port for cruise ships, although there has no announcement of any beach project. “Needless to say it would convenient for the city to have beaches. The arrival of cruise ship passengers and tourists from Bavaro-Punta Cana will be enormous with the development of the mother port and the Coral highway.”

The tourism expert suggests an agreement between the Santo Domingo Hotels Association and Vicini to develop Sans Soucí beach. “The first could convince the second of the great mutual benefit. And although the capital’s inhabitants wouldn’t like a steep incline, they could also access even if they have to pay.”