The bank's public reports, the 2026 Budget Law, and the 2027 Budget Bill allow us to measure how much has been spent, what has changed in the scope of the program, and how much money remains to be allocated
SANTO DOMINGO– The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) monitoring report for the Comprehensive Tourism and Urban Development Program of the Colonial City, validated on April 30, 2026 and published on July 20, records accumulated disbursements of US$57,077,998.54 on a loan of US$90 million.
That figure represents 63.42% and US$32,922,001.46 remained to be disbursed at the end of 2025.
On September 28, 2026, the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, stated that the IDB project will be delivered in full in December of this year, with its streets, sidewalks, curbs and underground cables.
The first loan, DR-L1035, for US$30 million, was signed on October 12, 2011, and its execution ran from June 2012 to June 2017, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The second, DR-L1084 (operation 3879/OC-DR), for US$90 million, was approved by the IDB on December 14, 2016, and signed on April 30 of the same year. The project's information sheet on the bank's website indicates implementation status, with a reporting date of October 1, 2026.
The program also has an associated operation, DR-G0004, for US$3,827,762, bringing the total reference cost in the bank's reports to US$93,827,762.
The pace of 2025
The IDB report for 2024 placed the accumulated loan disbursements at US$52,113,401.64, 57.90%, and a year later, the figure was US$57,077,998.54. In 2025, therefore, US$4,964,596.90 were disbursed, equivalent to 5.52 percentage points of the total amount.
In terms of actual costs, which the bank measures by program products, the actual expenditure in 2025 was US$12,914,169.54, compared to US$29,342,638 projected in the adjusted plan of the report itself, that is, 44.0%.
The total amount executed as of December 2025 was US$47,519,492.35 out of the US$93,827,762 of the program, and US$46,308,269.65 remained to be executed, a figure that, at the rate of 2025, is equivalent to about 3.6 years of work (calculation based on IDB data).
Priority streets
The rehabilitation of priority streets is a vital point. The original program plan projected 3,844 linear meters for US$24,814,000, and the adjusted 2025 version increased it to 4,608 meters for US$42,592,498.23, a 71.6% increase in the projected cost for an additional 764 meters.
By the end of 2025, 3,649 meters had been recovered, with an accumulated cost of US$27,611,070.31, of which 1,192 meters and US$6,488,166 corresponded to 2025 and with that data, the average cost per meter executed was US$7,567.
For the remaining 959 meters, the adjusted budget leaves a balance of US$14,981,427.92, equivalent to US$15,621 per meter, more than double the initial estimate (The report does not explain the difference).
Housing, facades and museums
In terms of habitability, the program plans to improve 140 homes. According to the IDB report, by the end of 2025, only 25 homes had been improved, compared to the 68 planned for that year in the adjusted plan, representing a shortfall of 43 homes.
On October 2, 2026, the Ministry of Tourism inaugurated the first batch of 44 homes of the Housing Improvement Program and a first batch of 60 facades, in addition to the 150 facades of the Paint Your City project, according to the Ministry of Tourism statement published by the Presidency.
The IDB counted two of the four planned museums as recovered, three of the six community public spaces and 157 facades, compared to an adjusted target of 270. Barely 50% progress in relation to what was planned.
Ribera del Ozama emerged from the matrix
In the 2024 version of the report, the recovered Ribera del Ozama product had a financial target of US$1,830,000 in the original matrix, reduced to US$84,566 in the adjusted plan and with that same amount executed.
In the 2025 version, the bank records it as an inactive product, dated March 31, 2026, and the report also indicates that the objectives of the operation have not been reformulated.
When the Government signed the loan agreement, the Ministry of Finance included the Ozama Riverbank Linear Park Project among the program's components.
Outcome indicators
The average hotel occupancy rate in the Colonial City was 54% in 2025, according to the IDB report, compared to a target of 76% and a baseline of 38% in 2020. Visitors to the museums that underwent renovations totaled 217,285, compared to a target of 284,218. Inadequate housing in the northern zone represented 61.2% of the total surveyed, with a target of 37.1% and a baseline of 64.2% in 2022.
Two indicators exceeded the target: foreign visitors to the Colonial City were 1,081,525, compared to a target of 604,418, and the average daily expenditure per foreign visitor reached US$127, compared to a target of US$89 and a baseline of US$84 in 2018.
Social safeguards
The IDB rates the performance of environmental and social safeguards as partially satisfactory. The report notes that the delay in construction generated two complaints under the bank's grievance protocol and that the implementing agency adopted an action plan with 21 additional measures.
The 2024 report already warned of social tensions and the risk of temporary economic displacement of merchants due to the delay of works on priority streets.
Budget plus or minus
The 2026 Budget Law allocated RD$875,699,815 to the project Rehabilitation for the Tourist and Social Development of the Colonial City and the 2027 Budget Project, sent to Congress and published by the General Directorate of Budget (DIGEPRES), reduces that item to RD$416,236,943, a decrease of RD$459,462,872, or 52.5%.
The remaining tourism projects in the Colonial City will increase from RD$23,153,154 in 2026 to RD$116,731,598 in 2027. This sum includes two projects that did not have their own line item in the 2026 law: the restoration of Casa Aybar, with RD$74,479,999, and that of the Borgellá Palace and Cathedral Museum, with RD$27,903,499.
It also includes the reconstruction of Colón, Eugenio María de Hostos and Callejón de Regina streets, with RD$7,478,323 (RD$4,617,718 in 2026), and the restoration of the National Directorate of Monumental Heritage building, with RD$6,869,777 (RD$18,535,436 in 2026).
Overall, tourism-related spending in the Colonial City totals RD$532,968,541 in 2027, compared to RD$898,852,969 in 2026, a decrease of 40.7%. The DIGEPRES annex does not break down the amounts by funding source.
The restoration of Casa Aybar began on August 25, 2026 with an announced investment of RD$102,288,093, under the supervision of the Executive Committee for Infrastructure of Tourist Zones (CEIZTUR).
The 2027 allocation, RD$74,479,999, is equivalent to 72.8% of that amount and the project includes the construction of a complementary building with public restrooms and a cafeteria, in addition to the repair of Las Atarazanas street, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
The preliminary technical specifications from CEIZTUR for the Borgellá Palace and the Cathedral Museum, uploaded to the institution's website in October 2025, describe works in Tourism offices, a museum warehouse and administrative offices, with renovation of finishes, electrical, sanitary and air conditioning installations.
A separate case: Monumental Heritage
The process CEIZTUR-CCC-CP-2025-0004, a price comparison to restore the building of the National Directorate of Monumental Heritage (DNPM), had a base budget of RD$27,440,000.10 and the call for bids was published on March 24, 2025.
Five companies submitted bids: Consorcio Valdez Duval, Zeugma Investments, Tablero Global Corp, SMA & Asociados, and Constructora HPP. Four of them reached the opening of the financial bids on April 28, but the award notice does not indicate why Zeugma Investments was excluded from that stage.
The economic offers were RD$24,696,000.11 (Tablero Global), RD$25,275,492.23 (SMA & Asociados), RD$26,700,492.59 (Consorcio Valdez Duval) and RD$27,235,410.85 (Constructora HPP), that is, 10.00%, 7.89%, 2.69% and 0.75% below the base budget.
In their report of May 7, 2025, the CEIZTUR experts stated that the last three did not meet the requirements due to defects in the cost analyses: lack of breakdown in the main items (Valdez Duval and Constructora HPP), ITBIS without transparency in some inputs (Valdez Duval) and prices of the analysis, different from those of the supporting quotation (SMA & Asociados and Constructora HPP).
The process specifications stipulate that, in the event of such omissions, their economic impact will be calculated and the bid will be rejected if the impact exceeds 4%. The report calculated impacts of RD$112,812.07 for Consorcio Valdez Duval (0.56% of the direct cost), RD$101,214.54 for SMA & Asociados (0.53%), and RD$171,947.18 for Constructora HPP (0.84%).
All three bids were also rejected, on the grounds that the deficiencies were inadmissible according to sections 27 and 36 of the specifications. The report's conclusions do not mention the 4% threshold.
The CEIZTUR Procurement and Contracting Committee awarded the contract to Tablero Global Corp for RD$24,696,000.11 on May 7, 2025, unanimously, with observers from the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra, the Committee for the Preservation of the Colonial City and the General Directorate of Ethics and Governmental Integrity.
Contract 5-2025 was signed on May 13, setting an execution period of seven months, counted from the payment of the advance, a validity of 13 months, until June 13, 2026, and an advance of 20%, equivalent to RD$4,939,200.02.
The award notice cites a communication from the Ministry of Finance dated March 24, 2025, announcing that the Ministry would take the necessary steps to provide the funds. The certificate of quota availability for commitment, issued by the Ministry of Finance in the Financial Management Information System (SIGEF), is dated May 28, 2025, fifteen days after the signing of the contract, which lists this certificate among its annexes.
It certifies RD$4,939,200.02 charged to the 2025 budget and states a contract amount of RD$24,696,000.10. Among the documents consulted, no other certificate appears.
Subsequent budgets allocated RD$18,535,436 to the project in 2026 and now RD$6,869,777 is allocated for 2027.
Added to the RD$4,939,200.02 certified for 2025, the three figures reach RD$30,344,413.02, compared to a contract of RD$24,696,000.10. After the advance payment, RD$19,756,800.08 remained to be paid, and the allocations for 2026 and 2027 total RD$25,405,213, a difference of RD$5,648,412.92.
The DIGEPRES annex does not break down the components of each allocation, and the documents consulted do not indicate whether the contract was extended or modified before its expiration of June 13, 2026.
The budget annex does not indicate what part of the 2027 allocation corresponds to the IDB loan.
Sources: Inter-American Development Bank: Project Fact Sheet DR-L1084 (accessed October 3, 2026); public project monitoring reports, periods January to December 2024 and January to December 2025. General Directorate of Budget (DIGEPRES): 2026 Budget Law and 2027 Budget Bill, investment projects by geographic distribution. Ministry of Finance, with the quota availability certificate of May 28, 2025. Ministry of Tourism. CEIZTUR, with the economic offer evaluation report and the award certificate AA 2025-0004, both dated May 7, 2025, and contract 5-2025 dated May 13, 2025, from process CEIZTUR-CCC-CP-2025-0004. Presidency of the Republic: communiqués of September 28 and October 2, 2026.
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