The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) pursues the update of the technical regulations for the repair, construction and modernization of bridges and highways in the country, through the preparation of a proposal, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
During a speech at the opening of the Symposium “Regulations for the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Roads and Bridges of the Dominican Republic”, held at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, the minister of MOPC, Deligne Ascención Burgospresented the Road Development Project of the Dominican Republic, which seeks to guarantee the construction of a safe, resistant and resilient road infrastructure in the face of disasters that complies with the necessary provisions not only to guarantee safety, but also to preserve the environment.
He explained that the current highway regulations that the country currently has date from the 80s, this represents almost four decades since its publication, so its updating with new contributions from engineering is imminent.
“The new technologies in the sector and the new scientific advances, as well as aspects such as climate change and road safety, are priority issues that must be taken into account, to consider them as vital issues that are not considered in the current regulations” said the minister.
He pointed out that although the problem of roads and traffic accidents are not new, due to the increase in the vehicle fleet and exponential levels in the last 40 years, the regulations should be relaunched.
Operation of the new gifts
The engineer Néstor Matos, director of Norms, Regulations and Systems of the MOPC, explained that from now on six regulations divided into three for highways and three for bridges will operate, “in both cases these regulations include a regulation for design, one for maintenance and the other for construction”.
Matos explained that these regulations will come into force as of January 2023 and with this engineering professionals will have in their hands a modern piece in keeping with the new times.
He argued that the country is going to have from now on modern regulations adapted to climate change and in accordance with the provisions of the new world order of engineering.
Infrastructure repairs
For her part, the representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Jill Dameé said that from 2016 to 2017 more than 20 major road infrastructure components had to be rebuilt in order to maintain development connectivity.
“The reported damages amounted to more than 400 million dollars, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, and as we know, infrastructure and road insecurity is extremely high in the country and results in three thousand deaths and 40 thousand injuries per year,” Indian.
He pointed out that to face these challenges, the bank is supporting the country with two types of responses, one is better planning in resilience and disaster risk management in infrastructures, which generates benefits between three and four times the costs. in terms of losses and second, to build highways and roads with the highest road safety standards
“In this sense, the country is reinforcing its road safety system in terms of structure with modern parameters that take into account climate resilience and road safety,” he said.
Present at the activity were the Minister of Public Works, Engineer Deligne Ascención, Max Puig, Executive Vice President of the Committee for Climate Change, Jill Dumee, Head of Operations of the Inter-American Development Bank, Angel Tejeda, Vice Minister of Planning of MOPC, Leonardo Reyes Madera, Vice Ministers Melito Santana, Vice Minister of Road Maintenance and engineer Pedro Delgado Malagón, among others.
