More than a year and a half after construction began, President Luis Abinader inaugurated the first phase of the border fence this Thursday, which spans 54 kilometers along the provinces bordering Haiti. The completed section covers approximately 2.7 kilometers of the border.
During the opening ceremony, Abinader declared that the lack of control on the Haitian side will not have repercussions on the Dominican Republic.
“The lack of control on the Haitian side will not cause a contagion on the Dominican side under any circumstances,” the president asserted as he inaugurated the first section of the smart perimeter fence in Comendador, Elías Piña.
Abinader stated that, since assuming the presidency in 2020, this was one of his projects, and now, given the situation in Haiti, it is non-negotiable and imperative.
“This project, which was extremely important, has now become indispensable and imperative,” the president stated.
As on other occasions, Abinader reiterated that the solution to the Haitian crisis is not in the Dominican Republic; however, as a government they are willing to help by regulating border flows with a “more formal” relationship.
“But we can help, and put in place mechanisms that help regulate the flows, that allow us to have better information and a more formal relationship. And that is, in part, what this border fence project seeks to achieve. I have said it recently, but I repeat it with the utmost clarity and forcefulness before all of you: The border will never be the same again,” he added.
The completion of this section, which comprises the third part of the border wall, comes amid the conflict between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, stemming from the construction of a canal on the Haitian side, which aims to divert part of the course of the Massacre River and the tension between the two nations.
24-hour patrol
Defense Minister Carlos Luciano Díaz Morfa ordered the immediate commencement of 24-hour patrol and reconnaissance operations on both sides, with the deployment of 76,000 troops .
He said that each tower has a round-the-clock guard service made up of two members of the Armed Forces.
He also ordered that "a rapid response team be stationed at the managementof Comendador, to respond to events that may exceed the capacity of border patrol units."
It consists of a URO Vamtac armored vehicle, two pickup trucks and two motorcycles, according to Diario Libre.
Díaz Morfa indicated that the physical fence and the Central Command and Control Center (C4) at the formal crossings of Dajabón, Elías Piña, Independencia and Pedernales will be unified into a single system.
He said that they will all be integrated with the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cybersecurity and Intelligence Center (C5i).
The wall will feature fiber optics, motion sensors at specific points, cameras with night and day vision, land and sea radars, communication towers, surveillance, drones and mobile rapid response units.
Additionally, four 30-foot-tall watchtowers were built using reinforced concrete. They have a solar-powered electrical system, with six photovoltaic panels on each tower. Each watchtower also has wells for extracting drinking water and restrooms.
The completed strip has two return gates located between pyramids 182 and 185.
The work
The work is being built in an area between 6 and 200 meters east of the border delimitation line, depending on the terrain conditions.
This allows for two patrol lanes on either side, each 13 meters wide with two lanes. The wall runs parallel to the border, which in this area is defined by the Carrizal stream.
Luis Alberto Casanova, presented as the contractor for the project, indicated that they built three culvert systems, a box girder bridge 15 meters wide and 8 meters long, and more than 600 square meters of lined side channels.
The fence consists of a reinforced concrete wall 20 centimeters thick and 2.5 meters high, including one meter below road level. A metal fence or chain-link fence was placed on top of the wall, depending on the security needs of each area; each section is 6 feet high and topped with barbed wire.
The section inaugurated is the first of six being built in a first stage that includes 54 kilometers.
The next phase is more comprehensive because it will cover 112 kilometers, 164 in total, which is close to half the length of the border.
