NewsWhore
10-08-2008, 04:00 PM
Deputy Environment Minister Eleuterio Martinez is not joining those who are actively pushing for the start of the construction of a new south-north roadway connection, the so-called Cibao-Sur highway. In a column published in today's Hoy, Martinez writes that there are no guarantees that the proposed tunnels would not affect the Central Cordillera water sources that sustain life in the DR and Haiti. He said that the proposed 50% tunnels - 50% highway seems like a compromise aimed at addressing environmental concerns, but he says there are reasons to believe this would be not end up benefiting Dominicans.
He said the environmental movement in the DR was born when a US company came up with the idea of fertilizing the Oviedo plains in the southwest with sanitary sludge imported from Atlanta, and the proposal for a Cibao-Sur Highway that was proposed by then President Antonio Guzman. "Then and now there is not even the minimum guarantee that a highway that crosses the very heart of the Cordillera Central will not cause irreparable environmental impact on the national rivers system and above all to the biodiversity of the island," he writes. The proposed highway would cross over the Yaque del Norte and Yaque del Sur river basins, and the Armando Bermudez, Nalga de Maco and Jose del Carmen Ramirez national parks protected areas.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
He said the environmental movement in the DR was born when a US company came up with the idea of fertilizing the Oviedo plains in the southwest with sanitary sludge imported from Atlanta, and the proposal for a Cibao-Sur Highway that was proposed by then President Antonio Guzman. "Then and now there is not even the minimum guarantee that a highway that crosses the very heart of the Cordillera Central will not cause irreparable environmental impact on the national rivers system and above all to the biodiversity of the island," he writes. The proposed highway would cross over the Yaque del Norte and Yaque del Sur river basins, and the Armando Bermudez, Nalga de Maco and Jose del Carmen Ramirez national parks protected areas.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)