The Ministry of the Presidency (Minpre) held a meeting to present the first draft of the Master plan Development of the Port of manzanillo and the northwest zone to industrialists, producers and community leaders from Santiago, Montecristi and Pepillo Salcedo.
At the meeting, headed by the Minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos Echavarría, the work route that will go to public consultation was shown, in an act in which the director of the Cabinet, Carmen Minaya; the project’s legal advisor, Joel Ramírez; engineer Miguel Torres Díaz, from the consulting firm Alliance WSP and the team from the United States Corps of Engineers (USACE), which provides technical assistance in this project.
Santos Echavarría expressed that the execution of the plan will not only impact Manzanillo, but the entire Northwest, since it is a step forward from the point of view of development for the Dominican Republic.
On his side, Miguel Torres Díaz, from the consulting firm Alliance WSP and moderator of the meeting, indicated that, in the previous stage to reach the bases of the elaboration of the master plan, community aspirations were collected and linked with development interests. , the commercial actors and the regulatory elements, to achieve a balance in its execution.
He stressed that the work scheme is based on obtaining data from the community members who had the opportunity previously to mark the points where they considered the development projects that should be built, taking into account the available space and the protected areas.
Through a participatory process, the residents of Manzanillo were able to choose between four distribution alternatives and, through a survey, indicate which options, in their opinion, were viable for the development of the community.
The day was focused on the presentation of the projects for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Port of manzanillothe rehabilitation of its access routes and the procedure for locating a shipyard facility for the construction, repair and maintenance of ships.
Next to Ministry of the Presidency Representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), the Environment, Energy and Mines, the Ministry of Economy, the Port Authority, the National Institute of Potable Water and Sewage (Inapa) participated in the meeting. , the National Institute of Professional Technical Training (Infotep), and Governor of Montecristi, Nelsy Milagros Cruz Martínez.
