Santo Domingo.- The Tourism Ministry’s Colonial Zone Development Program will start to renovate the historic center in April, with work on Meriño and Isabella streets.

Program director Maribel Villalona presented the plan’s first stage, designed by architects and engineers, with experience in the development of urban centers in Europe and North America, who submitted the winning tenders, supervised by the Inter-American Development Bank.

"We’re planning to start in April at the request of minister Francisco Javier Garcia, for which we began working with the Inter American Development Bank preparing all documents for the call for tenders, in a way which allows us to proceed as scheduled," she said.

Villalona added the work will be done by blocks to allow the area’s activities to continue with minimal disruption, with the first stage expected to be completed no later than nine months.

Radical change

The plan’s first stage is expected to radically transformation the Colonial Zone, with underground wiring, repaved streets, less traffic, priority for pedestrians and the reconstruction of facades of monuments.