The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, announced yesterday that the government plans to study and reach a consensus with the Ministry of Environment and the country's environmental sector on the possibility of a Cibao-South highway, connecting San Juan de la Maguana with Santiago de los Caballeros.
After highlighting the importance of the Rancho Arriba-Nizao highway in San José de Ocoa, inaugurated yesterday, the president stated that the new road allows communication between the south and the Cibao region, saving time by eliminating the need to travel to Santo Domingo.
"This is the first step towards greater communication between Cibao and the South, and in the first few years we will be very focused on making other pending connections, from the municipal district of Guayabal, in Azua, connecting it with Constanza, and studying and reaching a consensus with the environmental sector and the Ministry of the Environment on a Cibao-South highway, which would run from San Juan to Santiago," the president stated.
After a wait of several decades by the residents of the municipality, Abinader inaugurated the Rancho Arriba-Nizao highway, San José de Ocoa, with an extension of 11 kilometers, intended to finally connect the main commercial centers of the country with this prosperous productive region.
The president stated that this road is of greater importance because it allows the transport of agricultural products from Rancho Arriba, with approximately 1,300,000 square meters of greenhouses, and at the same time, it connects the Ocoa intersection in the south to the municipality of Piedra Blanca, in the province of Monseñor Nouel.
He pointed out that this government was able to remove the legal obstacle that prevented its construction in order to fulfill the most pressing need of the province of Ocoa, which was its completion. "We are fulfilling our commitments, and we will continue to do so.".
A press release from the Presidency states that the road reconstruction work was carried out by the company Ingeniería Estrella and that the project possesses all the characteristics required of the best highways in the world, including a longitudinal and transverse drainage system to ensure that surface runoff is channeled to its final disposal site without affecting the road surface. It is also equipped with a signaling and safety system that includes the installation of metal barriers and Jersey barriers to minimize the occurrence of accidents.
"We are vigilant, scraping together every penny, to take it where people really need it and where the quality of life of Dominicans will be improved, and that is why in such scarce, difficult times, we have been able to invest in priority projects in each province and we will continue to invest," the head of state declared.
Like a carton of eggs
According to the testimonies of community members Willian Encarnación, alias William Colchón, Inocelis Martínez, Ingrid Castillo and Wilfredo de los Santos, this was a project eagerly awaited for decades and they described it as an important road that benefits thousands of residents and passersby.
They said the president transformed the road, which was previously like an egg carton and impassable even on bicycles, into a modern and safe highway.
The Rancho Arriba – Nizao highway, inaugurated by the president, runs from the bridge over the Banilejo River to Rancho Arriba. This area is characterized by a thriving agricultural sector, primarily due to the increased construction of greenhousesand the expansion of agricultural exports to new markets.
For his part, the Minister of Public Works, Deligne Ascención, stated that this road was a request that community, social and political leaders had been making to different governments for years, and that today, happily, under the administration of change, President Abinader brought a solution for San José de Ocoa, for the Southern region, and also for the country.
Likewise, the provincial governor, Oliva Castillo, expressed: "President Luis Abinader, the gratitude of the people of San José de Ocoa overflows, because with the inauguration of this road section today we leave behind a bitter nightmare and awaken to a sweet reality, one that not only wasn't built, but that, as a consequence of predatory, rigged contracts, they tried to tie the hands of the Government, leaving you, Mr. President, to break the legal knot they left to get this long-awaited project underway.".
He expressed his gratitude on behalf of the people of San José de Ocoa for all that he has done for the community since assuming leadership of the State. "Our people, who have in you a zealous guardian of public funds, know without a doubt that they have a president truly committed to the well-being of the people, not with empty rhetoric or posturing, but with concrete actions; therefore, Mr. President, we firmly believe in what the vast majority of the Dominican people know and loudly proclaim: that we could not be in better hands.".
Those present at the activities included the Director General of Strategic and Special Projects of the Presidency (Propeep), Roberto Ángel Salcedo; the mayor of San José de Ocoa, Aneudy Ortiz; the mayor of Rancho Arriba, Alcedo de los Santos; and the mayor of Nizao, Eleazar Guerrero; the contractor, Manuel Estrella; Senator José Antonio Castillo; former senators Pedro Alegría and Carlos Castillo; the general administrator of the Agricultural Bank, Fernando Durán; the deputy Altagracia Encarnación; the director of the Valdesia Regional Health Service, Marcelino Fulgencio; and the director of the Dr. Guarionex Alcántara Municipal Hospital, Josefa Báez.
During the ceremony, the mayor of Rancho Arriba, Alcedo de los Santos, and the city council secretary, Estefany Mejía, presented President Abinader with Resolution 11-23, which declares him a distinguished son of the municipality of Rancho Arriba, for positively impacting this municipality during his government administration.
