NewsWhore
02-08-2008, 04:00 PM
Earlier this week, the Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso announced that an ambitious ethanol project was being planned by the Romana Fanjul Group and the Vicini Group, which together account for most of the country's sugar exports. The project will be implemented on sugar lands to be leased from the Dominican state and private growers in San Pedro de Macoris. However, in a paid advertisement in today's Listin Diario, the Boca Chica Sugar Cane Union claims that the rights to these same lands were already granted to Conazucar/Ethanol Dominicana, a Swedish-DR consortium that was the first to promote ethanol production in the country, and that this lease should be respected.
The union argues that if the Romana/Vicini group is favored with these sugar cane lands, a virtual monopoly in sugar production on the island would be created, putting the DR-CAFTA and European Union (EPA) trade agreements in jeopardy. The union urges the Dominican state to honor the original agreement for the construction of the proposed ethanol project with the European investors.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
The union argues that if the Romana/Vicini group is favored with these sugar cane lands, a virtual monopoly in sugar production on the island would be created, putting the DR-CAFTA and European Union (EPA) trade agreements in jeopardy. The union urges the Dominican state to honor the original agreement for the construction of the proposed ethanol project with the European investors.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)