Dozens of lawyers and engineers from the Ministry of Education are working to get 718 schools out of the “legal knot” in which the institution found itself, whose completion was not possible because the contractors declared bankruptcy, died, left the country or lacked land to build. lift them up
Fernando Taveras Rodríguez, general director of School Infrastructure Maintenance, stated that the objective is that, by the end of 2024, 100% of these schools are finished and delivered to their respective communities.
He explained that, in this process, he works under the transitory Law 118-21, which allows the budgets of these works to be reformulated and updated.
This legislation, whose validity will be extended until December 31, 2024, replaced Law 340 in 2021, which prevented any legal action in this regard.
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“Those 718 schools fell into a legal limbo, because they could not be calculated nor could they be paid for,” he said.
The progress
“Since Law 118-21 was approved, we have untied the legal knot of some 360 educational centers whose construction or completion was stopped,” said the official.
He added that “we still have several centers that we are working on unraveling, to mount them in the new Law.”
“This is a technical and legal process that needs the consensus of the technical part of the Ministry of Education and the contractors, to achieve the goal,” he said.
Within the framework of this process, he assured that 32 centers were released from legal restrictions and incorporated into the educational system with a total of 579 classrooms, which benefit a student population of 2,316 children.
“Each center has a particular situation, which must be evaluated independently. Evaluate why the construction of each center is stopped, the financial mismanagement of the contractors, the payment of the land, ”he indicated.
Some problems with schools
Taveras Rodríguez recalled that 62 educational centers were hired without the engineers having land to build them.
He said that 42 contractors received 20% progress to carry out the works, an amount that amounts to more than RD$367.2 million.
“The Ministry He has the responsibility of getting them land to execute the money that those contractors have from the Dominican State,” he explained.
He stated that, in other cases, the contractors own land, but it is impossible to build the campuses on them, because the land is muddy, clayey, flooded, or located in places that constitute a danger to the health of the students.
“We are making a replanting of that investment because, in some cases, readjusting those lands costs 5 or 6 times more than building the school,” said Taveras Rodríguez.
will be subjected
The General Director of School Maintenance and Infrastructure of the Ministry of Education, Fernando Taveras Rodríguez, stated that some contractors who breached their contracts with that state agency will be submitted to Justice and that dozens of cases are already being evaluated by the Legal Department, which will determine how to proceed.
