North-South cross-mountain road to cost US$200M, top official says

SANTO DOMINGO.- Public Works minister Victor Diaz Rúa affirmed Monday that the cost to rebuild the span Piedra Blanca-Ocoa, called Cibao-Sur, is estimated at US$200 million, a project already in a process of a call for tenders.

Diaz said the figure isn’t definitive because engineering details in the highway’s construction could vary.

Though he acknowledge the controversy arising from the ambitious South-North road link project across the Central Mountains, he called it of the "utmost importance" because it would be the first Cibao-South route and solve the problem of access to Ocoa province, which produces around 30% of the country’s vegetables.

He revealed that the call for tenders has already concluded, and in the next few days will announce the winning company, which could be Odebrecht-Risek, Venezolana de Inversiones, Construcciones Clerico, or Queiroz-Galvao-Proyectos S.A.

The official discarded the challenges to the project filed by the Dominican Anticorruption Alliance (Adocco), and affirmed that the process has been transparent.