Anticorruption says irregularities merit probe of major highway project

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Anticorruption Alliance (ADOCCO) Wednesday requested an investigation into alleged irregularities in the Public Works Ministry’s call for tenders to build the Cibao-Sur Highway, to link the Duarte highway with San José de Ocoa (south), at Piedra Blanca (north-central).

The denunciation filed in the Purchases and Public Contracts Directorate affirms that to allocate the project, Public Works violated several articles of Law 340-06, as well as article 16 of the Dominican Republic-U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement DR-CAFTA which obliges all government agencies hire services via international call for tenders, “whenever the value of the contract is equal or superior to 6.7 million dollars.”

ADOCCO Coordinator Julio Cesar de la Rosa said Public Works’ called for tenders nationally, despite that the work on the highway will fully surpass the amount stipulated by the DR-CAFTA.

The organization’s denunciation also calls the call for tenders being conducted without a previously drafted budget, “a serious irregularity in frank violation of article 38 of Law 340-06.”