The Dominican Republic will begin building a fence on the border with Haiti in October in response to the neighboring country’s perpetual instability.
“This year we are going to build a perimeter fence that has a great deal of preparation and technological content,” President Luis Abinader told a radio station in New York City, where he was attending the UN general assembly.
In July, Abinader said that the bidding process for the construction of the fence was underway and that construction would begin within three months.
In April, Abinader had already classified the design, construction and equipment of the fence as emergency measures, meaning that related tenders are a matter of national defense and are overseen by the Ministry of Defense, which can withhold information citing security concerns.
The ministry announced last month that it had awarded a 930,000 peso (US$16,460) contract to COR Ingeniería to carry out an environmental impact study related to the wall.
Abinader announced the initiative on 27 February and added that its construction would take two years.
According to local media, the wall would stretch 380km, but Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez told El Nuevo Diario in March that the project involved 190km and cost around US$100 million.
Authorities also mentioned that the construction of a mixed-type fence will include technology such as cameras, sensors and drones.
The previous administration has already built 23km in the last two years in the Jimani and El Carrizal border areas and, according to local website Noticias Sin, the current administration added 12km this year.
