Opinions split on proposed US$327mn metro

The Dominican Republic government's plans to build a US$327mn underground metro in capital Santo Domingo has caused controversy and has experts wondering how the public will react during public information sessions. "This is not the right time to consider a multi-million dollar metro project," the president of transport operator's union CNTU (Central Nacional de Transportistas Unificados), Ramón Pérez told BNamericas. "The government needs to focus on more immediate needs: problems with electric energy and medicine shortages, and improving education and highway works need to be dealt with before [the government] can take on a project that involves such a significant amount of money," he said. "This is even more true when one considers the standard basket [purchasing power] for a poor family in this country," Pérez added. The head of the metro planning office, Diandino Peña, disagrees. "We need to project confidence in the country and get the economy moving," he told BNamericas. "One way of doing that is taking actions to change the permanent chaos that transport represents in the capital." Peña pointed to former US President Franklin Roosevelt's government works programs in the 1930s to lift the country out of the economic depression, adding that the metro would create 2,000 permanent jobs. "A poor person who earns 4,000 pesos [US$145] a month is currently spending 25%, or 1,000 pesos, of his salary on public transport," he added. "That is 700 pesos a month more than what he should be spending. "The government would subsidize metro use, thereby freeing up necessary funds for individuals to take care of their more pressing needs," he added. "Not to mention the time saved by using the metro system." According to studies released by the metro office, rates for metro use will run between 5-10 pesos. Benefits from lower public transport rates, travel time savings and freeing up roadways are estimated at US$377mn over the first five years. Diandino Peña was the country's public works secretary between 1996 and 2000, and he is the president of Constructora Peña, which is also involved in metro planning. THE IMF ISSUE "Building the metro goes against the agreement the government signed with the International Monetary Fund [IMF]," CNTU's Pérez said. Taking on this project would "represent a certain challenge to our goal" of controlling government spending, local press quoted the Dominican Republic's IMF representative Ousmane Mandeng as saying. Building the metro would mean the government is "deprioritizing" its public spending, he added. However, "building the metro does not go against the IMF agreement, which establishes a US$1.1bn ceiling on government spending - and the metro comes in way below that," Peña said. IMF representatives were not available for comment when contacted by BNamericas. OTHER ALTERNATIVES? If the government were to adapt adequate transport policies, establishing "mini-terminals" in strategic parts of Santo Domingo, it could remedy the transportation situation "without having to recur to such high costs," CNTU's Pérez sustains. However, the president of the metropolitan bus service OMSA (Oficina Metropolitana de Servicios de Autobuses), Ignacio Ditrén, sees it differently. Máximo Gómez avenue - Santo Domingo's main thoroughfare where underground portions of the metro are planned - "is extremely narrow, and there are important landmarks on both sides, such as the national theater, the US consulate and important hotels" which would not allow for the street to be widened for exclusive bus or trolley lanes, Ditrén told BNamericas. Also, "the curves and inclination of the street make it impossible for elevated transport, and so the metro is really the only solution," he added. "The project could also be 'dominicanized,' which would lower costs," Ditrén said, meaning domestic companies would lead certain parts of the project. According to plans, the metro's trunk line would take 3.5 years to build and would be the first of three lines, with no further timelines for the other two future lines. It would take 13 minutes to run the 10km line that would have 11 stations with a float of 11 trains, with a three-minute interval between trains.