SANTO DOMINGO.- A fleet of 240 pieces of equipment, consisting of 103 pickup trucks, 32 trucks, 12 heavy construction equipment, six cranes, six ambulances, and four mobile workshops to reinforce the maintenance work on rural roads, roadside assistance, and supervision of works, was the inventory delivered yesterday by President Luis Abinader to the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC).
The work tools were purchased so that the state agency could carry out supervision of construction projects and repair and maintenance of rural roads.
Abinader pointed out that this purchase was made possible with 1.1 billion pesos, which were part of the savings the State will have with the termination of the shadow toll contract on the Northeast Highway.
"Public Works did not have any equipment to work with, so it was forced to rent everything it needed.".
The president declared that the Public Works equipment division was dismantled many years ago "because of a vision that did not suit the national interest.".
He recounted that when he meets with neighborhood associations, their leaders often request the Public Works equipment "because they don't know that there was no equipment, because it was dismantled.".
The leader understands that the country has fared very well from the hurricanes and storms that have affected it recently, but assures that "if we had had this equipment the cost would have been lower and with greater flexibility in solving the problems.".
"Look how things are linked: a contract that is very damaging to the national interest and also a procedure that was not the most convenient, which was the permanent contracting of the daily problems that arise," Abinader reflected.
User manual
The Minister of Public Works, Deligne Ascención, reported that the trucks will be used for the supervision and oversight of 600 works being carried out by the institution.
A schedule has been designed for each province for the inspections, a maintenance and performance manual has been written to care for the vehicles, and courses will be taught. They will also implement a platform to track the movement of the trucks, the official reported.
