Proposed project to charge garbage in electric bill

Santo Domingo—The municipalities’ primary public leaders will soon present a project to charge solid waste collection through the electricity bill of the electricity distribution companies (EDES) to ensure more than 95% collection levels.

The Dominican Federation of Municipalities (Fedomu), the Dominican Municipal League (LMD), and the Dominican Federation of Municipal Districts (Fedodim) are working on a proposal to unify garbage collection with electricity bills.

Kelvin Cruz, president of Fedomu, highlighted this at the XVI Congress of these entities, which had the theme “Municipal finances and the IV Industrial Revolution.” However, he warned that no one can charge for what they do not do because there must be a commitment to providing an efficient waste collection service. “You can’t become a scammer by charging for a service you don’t provide,” he told the municipal representatives.

Before the Congress, the Fedodim election assembly was held, in which the director of the municipal board of Don Juan, Lioncito José, was elected as president; Ramón Antonio Ramírez de La Rosa; secretary-general; Máximo Soriano, treasurer and Pedro Richardson in the executive directorate, among others.

In another order, Pedro Richardson proposed that municipal power be constitutionalized in the face of constitutional reform and that the transfer of the Dominican State’s ordinary revenues to the local governments be established with a minimum of 6%. He stressed that this seeks to increase spending on small and medium-sized works of better quality for the municipalities.

Meanwhile, Lioncito José called on President Luis Abinader to grant compactor trucks to all municipal districts so that they can provide good garbage collection service to citizens.

He also advocated the installation of urban planning offices in municipal districts with a population exceeding 15,000 inhabitants, as established by the land use law.

In addition, the president of the LMD, Victor D’Aza, said that municipalities have great shortages of resources, but the money in the hands of the local governments yields more. He also urged that the 393 municipalities be assigned a compactor truck, whose average cost is RD$6 million. He said that if you don’t have trucks, you can’t move forward in using solid waste for recycling.