Dominican Republic halts sales of state lands at ‘dead cow prices’

Santo Domingo.- President Danilo Medina has banned new sales of Dominican Republic’s state-owned properties until a general survey is concluded and their actual price, National Assets Agency (BN) administrator Emerson Soriano revealed Sunday.

He said the temporary ban results from the previous administrations’ sales of properties at “dead cow” prices, in which mostly third-parties, including officials, profited from those sales.

"There’s a momentary Presidential ban in the sense that new sales of property or state land cannot be made, because of the same chaos found by the current administration," Soriano said when interviewed by Listin Diario.

He said the BN aims to sell state assets at their real prices, and reiterated that the tradition was to sell those properties at the price of a dead cow, to benefit those involved, who assured low prices to then obtain a commission.