Warning on roadside slum growth

[NewsWhore]

Construction of businesses or houses along the nation's highways is banned, but the government has been looking the other way for years. Listin Diario reports on the growth of slum areas along the northbound Duarte highway and the eastbound Las Americas highway. The newspaper says that, "little by little the Autopista Duarte has turned into a chaotic route for vehicles". The newspaper says that State Sugar Council (CEA) properties have been occupied by a network that then resells the lands to poor families. "There are entire neighborhoods with clusters of more than 50 homes on the highway near Villa Altagracia, despite a government ruling that bans this construction". Listin Diario says that only during the first years of the construction of the highway, was the disposition to not build in its vicinity respected. It points out that in the past seven years chaos has become the norm, and described driving along the highway at these points as "a true ordeal." It warns that construction continues on state land at an accelerated pace, even in areas where the ground is vulnerable to erosion. It says that in the area of La Cumbre hundreds of 70 and 80-year-old pine trees have been cut down by squatters.

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