The National Institute of Transit and Land Transport (Intrant) stated yesterday that the traffic light blackout that affected Greater Santo Domingo, from the night of Thursday 27th until Saturday 30th August, was caused by the company Transcore Latam SRL intentionally, which is why it announced the termination, “immediately”, of the contract that the State had with that company.
Likewise, the director of the IntrantMilton Morrison, reported during a news conference that the State assumed control of the network of traffic lights to avoid further chaos like that which occurred during three days last week.
Another decision announced was that the Intrant requested the Public Prosecutor’s Office to initiate a investigation and establish the responsibilities. Morrison indicated that, since August 27, technicians from the Intrant They detected irregularities and, when they complained to the company, the response was to affect the entire system.
He indicated that Transcore Latam replaced traffic light devices and regulations without proper authorization, which constitutes a rape to the established institutional agreements.
“Upon detecting this situation, the Intrant immediately notified the company Transcore about this breachHowever, instead of rectifying and complying with what was agreed, Transcore ceased all services to the Intrant At 10:44 p.m. on the same day, August 27, notifying its decision through an internal chat between its main technicians and officials of the Institute.”
55 intersections
He explained that as a result of this unilateral decision, the traffic chaos It became palpable in the following days, initially affecting 29 critical intersections and increasing to reach 55 intersections in the DN and, in the face of this crisis and the risk it represented for public safety, on the night of Thursday, August 29, the Intrant decided to intervene directly, for the first time, the traffic lights.
He argued that a technical team emergency of the Intrant addressed the situation and after a strategic operation managed to take control of 6 fiber optic communication nodes that controlled the traffic lights linked to the company Transcoreincluding the subsequent militarization of those points.
“Finally, the team of the Intrant managed to retake the manual control of the traffic light system ensuring the independence from the company Transcore to manage any breakdowns that may arise. The system is currently under the control of the Dominican State, although technical challenges and vulnerabilities persist that require our attention,” Morrison said.
He stated that the administration’s commitment to the transparency and the accountability is unwavering as public servants. He clarified that, as it is a delicate matter, they remained silent for several days in order to carry out the corresponding investigations and return to the State what belongs to it.
Morrison was accompanied in the news conference by Jorge Luis Polanco, coordinator of the Recovery Team of the Public Heritageand by the Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Traffic Safety and Land Transportation (Digesett), Colonel Duarte Encarnación.
In November of last year, Trascore Latam SRL’s lawyer, Carlos Balcácer, threatened to “disconnect” the traffic lights in Greater Santo Domingo, following the decision of Public Procurement to suspend the contract with Intrant for 1,317 million pesos after finding signs of irregularities in the bidding process, including that 19 years of experience were alleged and the registry indicates that it was established in 2022. Faced with the scandal, the then director of Intrant, Hugo Beras, requested a leave of absence without pay, but a few days later he was replaced by Colonel Randolfo Oniel Rijo Gómez by decree 578-23, who was appointed by the President on an interim basis.
