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BiggerDominican Republic officials put their ear to the ground
Santo Domingo.- Government officials traveled this Sunday to the provinces of the country, after President Luis Abinader ordered that they visit the demarcations to attend to the main needs of their communities and socialize about the current government management.
The program, called “Government in the provinces” aims to discuss the management and works in the provincial demarcations. It began this Sunday.
The head of state instructed these public servants to give priority to the most important demands of the communities visited.
Great initiative. The next step is Public Consultation before government projects are launched to learn more about what the people want.
Public consultation is a regulation on the books in the RD. However, it seems to happen when capital projects both public and private are rammed through government approval processes by controversial promoters the notice of public hearings are lost on the back page.
The Medina’s government process to approve the Bavaro International Airport during the waning days of its administration is a prize example of abuse of the system of consultation. The BIA initiative was aborted by the Abinader government because of the misuse. BIA developers have been forced to start over again, if they choose to do so properly.
Ears to the ground . . . but will they listen?
A suggestion to this Presidential order is for the officials to include visits to their own provinces but also visits to provinces outside the communities they represent. They need to see the whole picture to make their actions in government even handed.