Rebuke, warnings against planned jump in road tolls spread

Bonao, Dominican Republic.- A second major transport union has joined the growing rebuke of the Government announced jump in road tolls, warning they’ll not pay the increase planned to start at the end of March.

The bus owners grouped in CONATRA become the latest group in the country to reject the planned toll hike, on which president Danilo Medina on Wednesday affirmed that the measure, “still isn’t final.”

Santiago Rodriguez, spokesman for the 14 provinces of the Cibao region’s bus owners grouped in CONATRA, said as soon as the increase takes effect, they’ll halt passenger transport.

He called the increase inappropriate because in his view the country’s ongoing economic crisis affects the transport sector.

Rodriguez said the number of passengers would decline significantly, leaving substantial losses to bus owners and drivers in the wake.

The business leader criticized that the Government “insists only in collecting taxes from the various sectors of the population instead of improving the quality of life Dominicans demand.”