NewsWhore
10-24-2007, 05:50 PM
Huchi Lora yesterday shared with listeners of the Nuria & Huchi radio show on 92.5FM that during an interview with Heredia Lombert, general manager for Sun Land in the Dominican Republic, several details on the contracts the government has signed with that financial intermediary, presided by Daniel Mejia and headquartered in Florida. Lora said that he was told that on the US$130 million financing contracted by Sun Land and subcontracted to DR-based construction companies for public works, the administrative, insurance and legal costs were 8.26% of the loan. She also clarified that the interest on the loan itself ranged from 8 to 14%, depending on the subcontractor. Diario Libre had reported earlier that the deal incurred RD$924 million that was to be allotted to pay for legal and banking fees, plus interest for borrowing RD$2.07 million. Furthermore, the government was to make another RD$900 million available to pay for complementary works and for equipping them. Diario Libre points out that the original contract with Sun Land had covered all costs.
Lora said she did not have an explanation on why the number of works contained in the original contract with the Office of Supervisory Works (OISOE) was reduced from 11 to 5 works, despite the budget not being reduced.
Regarding the US$200 million contract, Lora told his listeners that there is a contradiction between the government's reason for not executing this contract, that Sun Land did not get the resources on time, while Lombert of Sun Land told him that it was not executed because the government secured funding elsewhere.
Another contradiction Lora revealed was that former minister of Public Works Freddy Perez denied having signing the contract, while Lombert said he did.
Lora has been pushing for transparency and accountability in government. He said yesterday that citizens have to be more to government than people who vote for them and pay taxes. He questioned how it is possible that the government signs for US$330 million in foreign financing and nothing be known of this until the press opens it to debate. Furthermore, Joel Santos, spokesman for the Young Entrepreneurs Association (Anje) criticized the contracting and parallel budgets saying that this contradictorily happened at the same time that two new laws on public credit and budget supposedly making borrowing and allocating of resources more transparent were enacted by the government.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
Lora said she did not have an explanation on why the number of works contained in the original contract with the Office of Supervisory Works (OISOE) was reduced from 11 to 5 works, despite the budget not being reduced.
Regarding the US$200 million contract, Lora told his listeners that there is a contradiction between the government's reason for not executing this contract, that Sun Land did not get the resources on time, while Lombert of Sun Land told him that it was not executed because the government secured funding elsewhere.
Another contradiction Lora revealed was that former minister of Public Works Freddy Perez denied having signing the contract, while Lombert said he did.
Lora has been pushing for transparency and accountability in government. He said yesterday that citizens have to be more to government than people who vote for them and pay taxes. He questioned how it is possible that the government signs for US$330 million in foreign financing and nothing be known of this until the press opens it to debate. Furthermore, Joel Santos, spokesman for the Young Entrepreneurs Association (Anje) criticized the contracting and parallel budgets saying that this contradictorily happened at the same time that two new laws on public credit and budget supposedly making borrowing and allocating of resources more transparent were enacted by the government.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)