Tourism and Culture start a project that expands the rehabilitation of the Colonial City

“The time has come for the Colonial City,” said Tourism Minister David Collado, as the “Project for the Reconstruction and Conditioning of Streets, Sidewalks, and Curbs of the Colonial City” began this Wednesday, complementing the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) 90 million dollar project in part of the historic center. This is a project that aims to benefit residents in the Santa Bárbara, San Antón, San Miguel, and San Lázaro sectors by reconstructing 17 sections of streets worth 110 million pesos out of a total of 460 million, which includes the intervention of the Alcázar de Colón, the Panteón de la Patria, and the Puerta de la Misericordia, among other works. In the northern part, the streets that would be intervened are: Polvorin, section Mercedes Juan Isidro Pérez; Restoration, José Reyes, Merino; Duarte, La Noria Restoration; and José Reyes, Las Mercedes section. In all of them, work will be done on the sidewalks, streets, and storm drainage.

Collado launched the project with the Minister of Culture, Milagros Germán; Mayor Carolina Mejia’s representative, Mrs. Rosalia Féliz; Juan Mubarak, director of Monumental Heritage; David Llibre, president of the Dominican Republic’s Association of Hotels and Tourism (Asonahores); and William Garcia, president of the Union of Neighborhood Associations of Ciudad Colonial. The Committee for the Preservation of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, established by President Luis Abinader through decree 283-21 to develop the “City Action Plan Colonial 2022-2023,” is made up of various official entities such as Tourism, Cultural, and the Mayor’s Office. “We are going to start this process of rescuing the Colonial City by investing 460 million pesos from the Ministry of Tourism’s budget to unify efforts with the Mayor’s Office, with Culture, and with all the other institutions so that this Colonial City can shine in the world as it is, a world heritage, and that is why the time has come for the Colonial City, regardless of the 90 million dollars that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is investing,” said the official.

During the project’s initial phase, Minister Collado stated that the Dominican Republic is regarded as one of the world’s top tourist destinations. This is possible because private interests have been set aside to embrace a topic such as sightseeing.