Environment vows prosecution on river’s widespread devastation

Santo Domingo.- Environment minister Bautista Rojas on Tuesday revealed the widespread devastation of the Jatubey river from the extraction of aggregates and vowed to prosecute those responsible.

Rojas, accompanied by deputy Environment ministers, headed a surprise inspection of the site where he ordered the confiscation of a backhoe, used to extract construction materials and deployed Environment agents in the area to put a halt to the practice.

The official also deployed agents at an aggregates company located in the town of El Pino, La Vega province (central), suspected of processing materials extracted from the river, located near Loma Miranda. The large amount of extracted materials had created a huge crater.

Rojas also suspended all staff at the Monseñor Noel province Environment Agency pending an investigation.

"We’re before an unacceptable crime which we cannot allow under any circumstances, so those responsible will have to pay for it," the official said while he observed the damage along and beneath Jatubey’s river bed, near the confluence with the Jima river.