It was 11:58 in the morning when Cienfuegos yesterday witnessed an event that two years and four months ago was a mere pipe dream: people, braving the high temperatures during a wait of more than an hour, saw the president Luis Abinader get off the Santiago Monorail after driving the first trip with passengers from station 3 in the Espaillat extension to station 2 in San Lorenzo.
In this way, Abinader marked a milestone in the history of transportation in Central America and the Caribbean, a region that will soon debut its first monorail.
The cost of the work is RD$61,207 million as of July of this year They have spent RD$32,675 millionwhich represents 53.39%. It represents, together with the Cable Car and the sanitation of the Gurabo Stream, one of the most important works of this Government.
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Excited President
“We are very excited and happy, participating in one of the tests of the monorail system, the most modern in the entire region, with the latest technology in mass transportation that Santiago will have to ensure that the city continues to grow economically,” said Abinader, after the two-kilometer ride at a reduced speed of approximately 15 kilometers per hour.
Abinader said that quality mass transportation is essential for the economic development of any city and any country. “That is what we are doing in Santiago, which is the heart city and capital of the entire region, where there are industries that are essential not only for the region but for the country, such as free trade zones, cigarettes, and agricultural industries that serve the nation.”
“We are very pleased; the test was excellent and we will continue to do tests and we hope that next year all the people of Santiago will be able to use it,” he added.
When the Santiago Monorail is completed it will make a 14-kilometer journey from Cienfuegos to Beijing in 25 minutes. It will have a capacity of transport 20,000 passengers per hour per direction and 200,000 passengers per day.
During the tour, Abinader was accompanied by Vice President Raquel Peña; Minister of the Presidency Joel Santos; Senator Eduardo Estrella and Jhael Isa, executive director of the Trust for the Development of the Mass Transportation System of the Dominican Republic (FITRAM), among others.
Gurabo Stream Tour
After completing the test, President Abinader made an inspection tour of the sanitation of the Gurabo stream with the main media directors of Santiago and Santo Domingo, offering details of the progress of the work.
Delivery of apartments
President Luis Abinader delivered 250 new apartments in the Mi Vivienda Hato del Yaque Plan, which benefits the same number of families who now become homeowners, with which the number of housing units delivered by the Ministry of Housing and Buildings, through the Mi Vivienda Plan, in several districts of the national territory exceeds 8,500.
Mi Vivienda Hato del Yaque has an investment of RD$2,796 million, benefiting more than 4 thousand people who lived in vulnerable conditions on the banks of the ravines and rivers of Arroyo Gurabo.
At the same event, he handed over a police detachment in Hato del Yaque, providing security for the housing project and the surrounding areas. He also handed over the Hato del Yaque Church.
CEDI-Women inauguration
Earlier, Abinader inaugurated the CEDI-Women on the Other Sidean initiative financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as a result of the efforts of the Social Policy Cabinet and 12 institutions focused on transforming the lives of vulnerable women. At the event, the coordinator of the Social Policy Cabinet, Tony Peña, indicated that this center and another one that will be inaugurated soon invested US$20 million.
