Only 17 years ago the Dominican State paid for one of the most expensive projects in which the Gobierno had lost all of its history: the “dark road” of the motorways that communicated in Santo Domingo with Samana.
The ambitious work of promising “great advances” for the Dominican people through the impetus of the tourist zone of the Northeast, without embarrassment, the price to be paid has much to do with the mayor.
The viola concessionaire Autopistas del Nordeste and Bulevar Turístico del Atlántico, a manos de las empresas de capital Colombian Autopista del Nordeste SA and Boulevard Turístico SA, le ha costado al pais alas digit millions for vehicles that do not transit through the roads.
On the 27th of February, in his first rendezvous with the National Assembly, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, reiterated his opposition to the “dark shadow” as something “infamous”, which represents a great economic weight for the country. , and promise to comply with the legal requirements for “solution search”.
Agreed with the mandate, from 13 years ago the country has disbursed the sum of RD $ 26,835 million as part of the minimum commitments that must be guaranteed to the concessionaire.
For this year 2021, the Ley 237-20 of the State General’s Presbytery has been assigned to the concept of the “dark road” the sum of RD $ 4,930.9 million, but Abinader confirms that for the year in which the RD pageant is required $ 7,000 million for this concept.
The cost of radical support at the cost of the construction, operation and maintenance of high-altitude bus lanes is approximately US $ 305 million, which equals RD $ 17,674 million, however, the Dominican Governor has paid double his value in país todavía the hope “peaje sombra” is until the year 2038.
“To follow this model, in conclusion, we will pay for it six times a week in its value. This is unacceptably unacceptable, ”the president said before the National Congress.
After this publicity, the next step was taken by the Governor to sign the step 2 of February to the lawyer Emmanuel Esquea Guerrero, with the end of which he analyzed the concession contract and made legal information to President Abinader, in order to make the decision final.
When contacted by LISTÍN DIARIO, Guerrero signaled that at the moment he is receiving the power of the Presidency of the Republic to study the case of the “black shadow”, only that it has been published in the press.
Mientras Antoliano Peralta, legal consultant of Poder Ejecutivo, signaled in the Program Matinal, of Telemicro, kanaal 5, that the governor presided over Abinader “always treats a consensual, negotiated solution, which is unprejudiced to the State and only if it is possible , we are in arbitration or in a judicial conflict ”.
What is “dark shade”?
The project that pact the construction and administration of the motorways is a vial concession, derived by means of which the State obtains a private company by means of a tender to build, exploit and preserve a transmissible tramway for a periodic compromise pay with the fees collected in the opening.
In the case of the Northeast Autopista and the Atlantic Tourist Boulevard, the Colombian companies are compromising to directly finance the 80% of the total cost of the work ensuring its construction, maintenance and opera, always and when the Dominican Government derecho to recover 100% of the payments in both trays for an uninterrupted period of 30 years.
However, even though there is a promise of stability and a firm commitment to peace, the “small letters” of the contract contain a clause that obliges Gobierno to pay a “minimum guarantee” to the concessionaire to “protect the inversion”.
The so-called “shadow pay” originates in view of the existing deficit in the flow of vehicles circulating on the road, as far as Gobierno is concerned, it pays miles of millions of pounds as the difference can be filled to the contrary.
In the amounts devoted annually to the concept of this “phantom” road, not including the millions that take direct forms of the land of Marbella, Naranjal, Guaraguao and Catey, the prices go up by RD $ 2,170. ida y vuelta in a category I vehicle.
If, on the other hand, a road trip and the flight of a second-hand vehicle, category IV, are carried out, the mountain will pay a fine of RD $ 8,114. But in addition to taking absolute control of everything that traverses the roads, Autopista del Nordeste, SA and Boulevard Turístico SA also have insured as an “additional contribution” the Taxpayer to the Transfer of Goods and Services, better known as ITBIS.
This ultimate part is defined in the agreement number on the contract in which it appears that “at the time of presentation of the offer in November 1999, the current standard of compliance with ITBIS was not observed, in the event that the licensee the application applies to ITBIS, which has been in place since March 2001, the case, or the State, is obliged to assume the difference as an additional contribution ”.
Asi nació el “peaje sombra”
The signature of the contract passed by the governors of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) with the president Hipólito Mejía a la cabeza, and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) led by the president Leonel Fernández in his second and third term.
The vial concession between the Autopista del Nordeste, SA and the Dominican State originated on December 8, 1999, when the Colombian consortium won the approval of the contract by the international public competition to build and operate the Santo Domingo – Cru de Molinillos.
On January 22, 2001, the Secretariat of the State of Public Works and Communications (Seopc), represented by Miguel Vargas Maldonado, authorized the Colombian shareholder companies Grupo Odinsa SA, Grodco SCA and Consorcio Remix SA to form.
On July 18, the contract “Construction of the Santo Domingo – Samaná bajo the administration system of the Peaje regime” was signed between Vargas Maldonado and the representative of the licensor, Luis Fernando Jaramillo Correa, by a US official $ 125,516,542.
It is agreed that the total place of the contract series of 33 years and three months, of the first three months correspond to the place of liquidation of the contract, three years for the execution of the work and the remaining 30 years are dedicated to the operation and maintenance of the car on the side of the private unit.
The contract provides that “if the value corresponds to the increments in the concept of payment during the full operating months is inferior to the increment guaranteed for this period, the Concredente (Dominican Governor) compensates the difference to the Concessionaire”.
This clause, which opens the gates to the guarantee of the “shadow pay”, with the aim of “maintaining the economic balance of the project”, was also approved in the company acts in August 2005 and January 2006 by the Secretary of Public Works of Jesus (Freddy) Pérez, during the tenure of Leonel Fernández.
Posterior to the firm, the millionaire project is divided into two phases: the first composite for the construction of the Northeast Autopista and the second for the construction of the Atlantic Tourist Boulevard and the rehabilitation of the carriageway from Nagua to Las Terrenas.
This is the second stage approved by Fernandez and the National Congress on August 23, 2007, and on November 22, the same year was signed between the Secretary of Public Works Víctor Díaz Rúa and the company Boulevard Turístico SA, which is structured de la Autopista del Nordeste, SA
Although the agreement on both works corresponds to the mandates, these were enacted during the Fernandez Governor’s March, 30 June 2008 and November 2011 respectively.
In a card handed over in 2008 at the National Congress, President Fernandez said that according to the financial model of the work, the Dominican State must obtain initials in the amount of US $ 900 million during the contract term.
It is based on a “traffic study”
The approval of the project that one on the north and north of the country is based on the “Certification of Demand or Traffic Model” expedited in 2005 by the International Traffic Consultant Louis
Berger Group, is engaged in the reporting of the firm española especializada en planificación de transporte Auding SA
It is established in the act of agreement no. 8 of the concession contract, the studio was presented by Autopista del Nordeste SA “with the object of minimizing the risk of incidence during the projections of the traffic volume of the project”.
This “traffic study” predicts that the Dominican State will only pay “dark wages” for years, since its inauguration in 2008 until 2015, the time has passed “the idyllic series of vehicles”.
Without embarrassment, 13 years have passed since its launch in operation, the numbers paid for by the companies are increasing and the present in 2021 promises to be one of the “most important” ones in the error.
Denuncias
Agreed with the information “Fiscal autopsy: Evaluation of the guests and residents of the Dominican Government for the guarantee of rights”, elaborated by the Oxfam Dominican Republic in 2019, in the first years of operation of the autopistas the private capital has doubled .
“This contractual modality represents a flight of considerable resources for the tax, apart from the cost of the bolsillo for general citizenship, which exceeds the RD $ 2,000 for a road trip and space”, reads the document.
The senator of the National District, Faride Raful, has called “Leonino” the contract of the Northeast Autopista and also signaled the compromise made by President Abinader for revision.
Intent to negotiate
On previous occasions a revision of the concession contract was considered by many as “abusive”, but no governing body materialized it.
On December 15, the Ministry of Public Works announced that it was entering into a “negotiation process” with the consortium of companies to concretize an agreement that would allow a “significant reduction” in the cost of “black money”.
However, in an article published on the same day by LISTÍN DIARIO, both the firm of the periodical Patria Reyes Rodríguez, it was stated that by extrapolation a source league with the Ministry declared that “we have not reached a final agreement with the company ”.