Final touches to Metro Line II

Santo Domingo.- Almost four months sincepresident Danilo Medina’s pre-election tour of the stations on Line II of the Santo Domingo Metro, there is still no formal datefor the public transport system extension’s entry into operation.

The line, which will connect the National District with SantoDomingo East was originally announced for early this year. However, completionworks are still underway, especially on the four stations along the line.

On Wednesday, workers were installingwindows and mezzanines and completing work on the escalators in the stations,as well as removing scaffolding from the suspension bridge that has been built across theOzama River. According to some of the laborers, these are finishing touches andthat it will not be long before the line starts working.

One factor that they say may have delayedthe work is the lack of funds, especially as some contractors have complainedof being owed as much as four months worth of work.

When the president toured the stations inMay, the Transport Reorganization Office (Opret) said that it would be a few monthsbefore the line extension would enter into operation.