NewsWhore
08-13-2012, 02:20 PM
Traffic is now back to normal, but travelers on the Las Americas Expressway through the eastbound toll on Saturday, 11 August had to deal with long delays caused by bottlenecks following an abrupt change in tollbooth staff. The change came after an international arbitration ruled in favor of the private concession company.
Codacsa representative Roberto Garcia said that the government had abused its power by sending in the army to forcefully staff the Las Americas tollbooths. He said the international arbitration had ruled that the Dominican government had to pay US$45 million to the company for violations. On Sunday 12 August, El Nacional reported the Dominican state had won the case.
The Ministry of Public Works sent untrained staff to replace the 30 employees at the tolls. As reported in El Nacional, the problem occurred because the new employees had to learn the job on the spot and were not experienced in making change and charging the tolls. They also did not have sufficient change, which caused other delays.
The staff was reportedly instructed to not come to work, and just show up on 15 August to collect. They were told they had been fired.
The legal dispute arose after the Dominican government accused the company of failing to abide by the contract.
Nevertheless, Winston Vanderhorst, director of tolls for the Ministry of Public Health, said that a new system would be installed to speed up tollbooth traffic on the Las Americas Expressway. He described the present system as obsolete, as reported in Diario Libre.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2012/08/13/i347654_estado-asume-obsoleto-peaje-autopista-las-americas.html (http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2012/08/13/i347654_estado-asume-obsoleto-peaje-autopista-las-americas.html)
www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2012/8/12/90582/La-Codacsa-denuncia-Estado-la-despoja-manejo-de-peaje (http://www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2012/8/12/90582/La-Codacsa-denuncia-Estado-la-despoja-manejo-de-peaje)
www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2012/8/11/130965/Caos-en-peaje-Las-Americas (http://www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2012/8/11/130965/Caos-en-peaje-Las-Americas)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Codacsa representative Roberto Garcia said that the government had abused its power by sending in the army to forcefully staff the Las Americas tollbooths. He said the international arbitration had ruled that the Dominican government had to pay US$45 million to the company for violations. On Sunday 12 August, El Nacional reported the Dominican state had won the case.
The Ministry of Public Works sent untrained staff to replace the 30 employees at the tolls. As reported in El Nacional, the problem occurred because the new employees had to learn the job on the spot and were not experienced in making change and charging the tolls. They also did not have sufficient change, which caused other delays.
The staff was reportedly instructed to not come to work, and just show up on 15 August to collect. They were told they had been fired.
The legal dispute arose after the Dominican government accused the company of failing to abide by the contract.
Nevertheless, Winston Vanderhorst, director of tolls for the Ministry of Public Health, said that a new system would be installed to speed up tollbooth traffic on the Las Americas Expressway. He described the present system as obsolete, as reported in Diario Libre.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2012/08/13/i347654_estado-asume-obsoleto-peaje-autopista-las-americas.html (http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2012/08/13/i347654_estado-asume-obsoleto-peaje-autopista-las-americas.html)
www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2012/8/12/90582/La-Codacsa-denuncia-Estado-la-despoja-manejo-de-peaje (http://www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2012/8/12/90582/La-Codacsa-denuncia-Estado-la-despoja-manejo-de-peaje)
www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2012/8/11/130965/Caos-en-peaje-Las-Americas (http://www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2012/8/11/130965/Caos-en-peaje-Las-Americas)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)