Samaná’s Boulevard Turístico del Atlántico (Atlantic Tourist Boulevard) will lead to a significant increase in flight frequencies to Juan Bosch International Airport (El Catey).

Elsa De León Tool, deputy Tourism minister for the province of Samaná, predicts that this new highway will increase internal tourism and hotel occupancy and will bring the region closer to the capital and to Las Americas International Airport.

She said that the road would give El Catey airport the boost it needs, because it hasn’t met initial expectations due to the current poor state of the roads. It will also make it easier for tour operators to sell Samaná because its remoteness has always put it at a disadvantage despite being such an attractive destination.

Hotels would also increase their profits once they don’t have to absorb the cost of transferring passengers from Las Americas Airport. Both large and small businesses in the area will be able to increase their service capacity, said De León.

Other direct beneficiaries would be the transport companies, which spend a lot of money on spare parts and tires due to the current state of the roads.

The deputy minister says that despite the fact that Samaná is a paradise on earth due to its natural beauty, road access in some areas is almost completely nonexistent. For this reason, tour operators prefer to send their clients to the eastern region.

The Boulevard Turístico del Atlántico has been awarded international recognition as the best financed project of the year, as the first project being financed by four multilateral agencies - the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and French financial entity Proparco.

The Dominican Republic's potable water and sewerage authority Inapa is restarting the Higuey-Bavaro pipeline project in Altagracia province, government news service Antena reported.

Following congress' approval of an addendum to the 2006 concession contract, Inapa made an US$11mn down payment to Italian consortium Ghella to resume work on the pipeline.

Under the addendum, the project was expanded and split into two phases, said Inapa head Mariano German. The first phase requires an investment of US$60.8mn, and aims to guarantee potable water supply to Higuey municipality until 2015.

The second phase seeks to guarantee access to potable water for Altagracia and La Romana provinces. Costs for the second stage will be determined by the final design, said German, adding that additional financing will be required.

The pipeline is expected to benefit a population of nearly 200,000, which is projected to rise to over 400,000 in the next 20 years.

Santo Domingo.- The Tourism Industry Promotion Council yesterday announced the approval of seven new investment projects worth nearly US$780 million, to build around 11,000 rooms.

Tourism vice minister Radhamés Martinez Aponte said most of the projects are real estate, one is for tourists and another is a complementary offer, in Punta Cana and Samaná, by Spanish, American and Dominican investors.

The official, speaking in a press conference during the 11ª version of the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange, DATE 2010 in the Moon Palace, said the requests for the new investments were reviewed in the Council meeting on March 30.

The Russians are coming Martinez also said that Russia’s major carrier Aeroflot based in Moscow, will begin weekly service to Dominican Republic in May. “We’ve become the Caribbean destination’s leader for Russia. Its airline Transaero is flying to the country seven times weekly, transporting 50,000 tourists in 2009, more than what Cuba receives."

In spite of the global economic crisis, 25 new free zone companies will start operations in the country with an investment of more than two billion pesos and generate more than 5,500 direct jobs.

National Free Zones Council director Luisa Fernandez made the announcement on Sunday, after concluding a meeting of the entity headed by Industry and Commerce minister Jose Ramon Fadul.

Fernandez said in Friday’s session, the operations of the 25 new companies were approved nationwide, with currency earnings of more than US$31.2 billion for the country.

The official said the new free zone companies will operate in the National District, Santo Domingo province, Santiago, San Cristóbal, Barahona, Boca Chica, Haina, Juan Lopez, Esperanza and Villa Altagracia, among other localities, which will provide a new boost for the sector. “The fact that these new investments come to our country and help create more than 5,000 new direct jobs reconfirms that the free zone sector can and must forge ahead, in spite of the global crisis.”

The free zones began operating in the country in 1969 with the company company Gulf and Western Americas Corporation, in La Roma (east).

Dominican Today