Houses promised again to Los Ríos victims

A new promise stirs the hopes of the citizens who lost their houses in 2020 after a landslide in the gully in the sector La Yuca, in Los Rios, of this capital, due to the rains of the storm Laura.

Yesterday afternoon, the eleven affected families were summoned to a meeting headed by the Vice Minister of Housing, Ney García; the president of the Presidential Commission for the Support of Neighborhood Development, Rolfi Rojas, and the architect Digna Ávila, who detailed new information on the project.

In a pleasant meeting that began with an invocation to God and the evident joy of the victims, it was announced that five buildings with the same number of levels would be built for a total of 50 apartments, even though only eleven families were affected.

They projected that by the end of this year or at the beginning of 2023, the work will be in the bidding process to begin construction of the buildings, detailed the architect of the Ministry of Housing, Digna Ávila.

The bidding process
Ávila pointed out that the bidding process would take about one or two months, “depending on the complexity of the project.”

“Next year is very possible. That is for sure, if not at the end of this year, it will be at the beginning of next year,” the architect said, referring to the beginning of the construction of the work without specifying the investment.

On the other hand, García informed them that they already had the land where the building that would house the eleven families who lost their homes due to the floods will be built. Furthermore, he pointed out that it will be located in the same sector of Los Rios, where it is located by “the sports center court,” which will also be rebuilt in another part of the sector.

While Rojas explained that after much imposition from private individuals, they finally got the approval of the land and reached a consensus in a meeting they had recently with the State Sugar Council (CEA).

“Soon we are going to take the president there and give them his key. There was a lot of difficulty in looking for the land because there was always someone who imposed himself,” said Rojas while announcing to the victims that they already had the approval of the land.

He emphasized that the processes are “more advanced” and that nobody will make the “president look bad.”

The new project
The architect, Digna Avila, added that they would be “decent housing with a green area, access to parking for owners and visitors.” “It has been explained to them there are stages and procedures to be exhausted. The architectural part, the design, number of buildings… all that is ready, but there are other things that have to be developed,” detailed Ávila.

She specified that the technical plans, for example, electrical, sanitary, and structural, “are being finalized and are in process.”

“Once that whole process (technical plans) is completed, we will proceed to put together the bidding process, then the awarding, and after that we will build,” Ávila explained, alleging that “work has never stopped” on the project that was announced in 2020.

Two years of tragedy
Today marks the second anniversary of the passing of storm Laura, which left eleven families in the La Yuca sector in Los Ríos homeless after their houses were swept away by the ravine in the same neighborhood, which is currently being cleaned up and remodeled.

So far, the eleven families are receiving financial assistance to pay for the houses where they currently live. Two years after the promise, the families still have high hopes that their new homes will be delivered to them.

Cañada
On going to the area of the landslide over the weekend, a team from Listin Diario observed that the work of renovating the gully is progressing while those affected still do not have the houses promised to them by President Luis Abinader.

According to information gathered on the spot, the gully is covered, and a two-lane road will be paved in the next few days.

On the pavement, there were dozens of workers distributed all over the area operating different types of machinery, such as a backhoe, roller tractor, and bulldozer, among other manual tools used for construction.

Forgotten
When reporters of Listín Diario went to the sector over the weekend to see what the people thought about the promise to build their houses, the reactions were direct.

“The word of the President is on the ground, look how we are still, and they don’t tell us anything. I believe that the government’s word has to be heard because they are already finishing this project (covering the gully) and we are still the same,” expressed Kenia Sanchez, one of the affected people who had been living in the area for 30 years.