Dominican govt. mulls concrete roads on cement´s low cost

Santo Domingo.- PresidentDanilo Medina ordered a cost-benefit feasibility study on the use of concrete forthe country’s roads, Public Works minister Gonzalo Castillo revealed Monday, andsaid the president took into account cement production´s spiraling growth in 2015and its low price locally.

"We know that it´snot just the price of concrete, we must also see that a particular roadway hasa lifespan several times longer than an asphalt road, and also requires lessmaintenance. So we’ll be working on that, taking advantage of these greatprices cement has in the Dominican Republic in the last three years," theofficial said at a National Palace press conference with the Dominican CementProducers Association (ADOCEM)

Cementproduction jumps

ADOCEM president GabrielBallestas revealed that cement consumption has jumped 53% over the past threeyears.

"These are figuresnot seen anywhere else in the region. We expect to close with around 10 percentgrowth which means a per capita consumption of more than four kilos of cement.That consumption is a record level in the region, the second indicator levelafter Panama, which puts the Dominican Republic a leader in this formula,"Ballesta said.

He stressed that the jumpin cement consumption results from government programs to build classrooms andhomes nationwide.

Ballestas said thelocal demand for cement was 2.6 million tons in 2012, and reached 4.0 milliontons in 2015, with production of around 5.4 million tons by year end. "Thatis to say that this country consumes four million tons and exported around 1.4million tons."