Despradel against the Metro

[NewsWhore]

Speaking on the "Lideres" television program on Color Vision, former Central Bank governor Carlos Despradel said that the government has invested more than RD$3 billion in the construction of the first Metro line, "but what is of greatest concern is what remains to be spent. Nobody, not even the builders, knows what the metro will end up costing," he said, as reported in Hoy newspaper. He mentioned that even with the controls that the US government had over the construction of the Puerto Rico Metro (which is 17 kms long), it has been a failure and ended up costing US$2.25 billion, or RD$75 billion. Despradel said that making a conservative estimate, the Santo Domingo Metro would cost RD$35 billion, of which only RD$3 billion have been spent so far. "And where are the remaining RD$32 billion going to come from," he wonders. Despradel comments that the construction of the metro was not a priority for a country that was just coming out of a profound banking crisis, with a Central Bank debt now at RD$160 billion. He said problems would multiply when the Central Bank begins to pay the debt. Despradel believes that in 2007 the government will have to decide whether to freeze the Metro's construction, which could be perceived as a political failure, but he warned that on the other hand the construction would require an investment of hundreds of millions, which is a great dilemma for the authorities.

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