Fernandez goes to Enriquillo

[NewsWhore]

President Leonel Fernandez will travel to Lake Enriquillo on Thursday and visit the community of Los Rios, Bahoruco where he will outline the government's efforts to help people who have been affected by the rising lake waters in the provinces of Bahoruco and Independencia. Fernandez will be accompanied by the officials in charge of finding a solution to the problems created by the rising waters. Several municipalities in the area have been calling for urgent assistance. Fernandez decided to visit Los Rios on Thursday after yesterday afternoon's meeting with the official commission studying the demands from the region. According to Hoy newspaper, over 500 families have lost their homes and possessions in the floods, and hope to be relocated. The communities are making seven demands: the construction of a dike on the Trujillo Canal, rural roads, restoration of coffee plantations in La Ceiba, in Neiba, as well as help for sowing short-cycle crops, a census of the people affected and the displacement of the South Yaque River towards Puerto Blanco. They also want the riverbed to be deepened and the drainage of the Cabral Canal to be rebuilt. Presidential press secretary Rafael Nunez said that President Fernandez would be taking concrete solutions to the meeting in Los Rios. He said the displaced families would be relocated to Tierra Prieta, Los Indios de Postrer Rio, Guzman, La Trocha de Saqueta, La Baitoa and El Proyecto de Villa Jaragua. Fernandez will go to Los Rios after stopping at Azua, where he will watch the celebrations in commemoration of the 165 anniversary of the Battle of 19 March when Dominican troops halted the Haitian army that was coming to the aid of their occupation forces as the Dominican Independence movement got under way. Accompanying the president will be the ministers of the Environment and Public Works, the directors of the Dominican Agrarian Institute, Hydraulic Institute (INDRHI), and Territorial Organization and Development director Franklin Lambourt who delivered the technical report on the reasons for the lake's recent increase in size.

More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)