Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s chronic chaos in freight and passenger transport on Monday prompted business and industry leaders to urge the Government to correct it, citing harm to consumers and the economy.
In the National Palace meeting with Presidency chief of staff Gustavo Montalvo, the leaders called for government intervention of the transport sector, which in their view its players don’t respect the law, skyrocket costs and create distortion.
National Business Council (CONEP) executive vice president Rafael Paz said the Consumer Protection Agency should make its authority felt to indentify the problems and regulate transport. "It’s not possible to continue to suffer from public transport’s embarrassing situation and indignity and we have a current exercise by a dominant position through violence methods and vandalism in cargo transport, which critically affects the competitiveness of companies and costs."
The business leader said ther’s much abuse by companies disguised as unions to not respect the rules in the sector.
Paz said the private sector demands that truck and bus owners become companies, because in his view they hide as unions to violate the law and sidestep responsibilities.
For his part, Dominican Employers Federation (COPARDOM) president Joel Santos said the business sector is gravely concerned with the country’s transport.
Also present in the meeting were CONEP president Rafael Blanco, Industries Association president Campos de Moya and business leaders Circe Almánzar and Jaime González.