Sigmund Freund, recently sworn in as Minister of Public Administration (MAP), informed that he will not abandon the tourism development project of Pedernales, which he is carrying out from his position in the General Directorate of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP).
“By decision of the President we will continue directing the Pro-Pedernales trust until we can make a kind of transformation from the trust to a mixed capital society that is being incorporated by the National Congress in which private capital and the Dominican government will participate to continue the development of the province”, he emphasized.
He explained that his continuity in the project is in line with the fact that the DGAPP has an appendix to the Fideicomiso Pro-Pedernales which was a vehicle created in a specific and particular way to promote and structure the development of Pedernales.
He said that the project has a particular dimension and exceeds what was the competencies of the DGAPP in its own internal regulations when the Pedernales trust was established.
“That trust is the receptacle of the assets that the Dominican State has been contributing as the land and resources to build the infrastructure is managed independently,” he said.
Freund indicated, in the radio program “Párate Ya” on Los 40 88.5 FM, that, in Pedernales, during the development of tourism projects, there has been a growth.
“In recent years the hotel development of the town of Pedernales was scarce and it was because it is a destination, it still remains a bit, distant from Santo Domingo and by not having the conditions of hotels, restaurants and everything else the local visitor went a lot to Bahía de las Águilas, Ecos del Mar, the caves… However, by virtue of the fact that the President pointed out and established Pedernales as one of the places to be developed in his administration as a new tourist destination in the DR, investments have begun to flow, even parallel to ours”, he explained.
In that sense, he indicated that already in the town of Pedernales there is an increase of 8 to 10 hotels, in addition to several Airbnb and many restaurants.
The executive recalled that the Cabo Rojo project, which they are executing, they are building three hotels that will provide 1,700 rooms. “Two Hyatt hotels and an Iberostar hotel that would be ready in May 2025 and then a Hyatt for June or July and the other by the end of the same year 2025”.
Freund said that before reaching the point where the development of the area is, there was a lot of uncertainty and disbelief, since there had been many years where there was talk of development and it did not come, until now. For that reason, he said that the creation of the hotel plant, which will bring with it a flow of visitors, is being done under coordination of a tourist load study to avoid damage to the environment.
“The most important thing about the development of Pedernales is that we have respected the environment, it is the only tourism project that has a tourist load study carried out by the best professionals in the country, which means that we know the amount of people that can be there on the beach of Cabo Rojo and on the beach of Bahía de las Águilas, ie, above that amount that was studied would already be affecting that area, but we are doing more, because the law establishes that hotels must be 60 meters away from the beach and we have taken it to 160 meters in Pedernales so that all the sensitive areas between the beach, the first coastline and the building have not received the direct impact of the construction,” he said.
He reiterated that Pedernales will have a tourism project that is historic to everything that has been done in the DR and that is why Cabo Rojo will be positioned as a beach destination, but with a very large and positive environmental impact.
Cabo Rojo Airport
Regarding the construction of the terminal in the area, Freund said that it would be ready, according to the schedule, by the end of 2025. “In a year and a half we will have a new international airport in the country. It is not a promise, it is a reality.”
In the case of domestic or local flights, he said that since a year ago the Santo Domingo-Cabo Rojo route had been inaugurated – Mondays and Fridays – which as a trust the DGAPP was subsidizing (to encourage visits to the area). “The airline is still doing the route, although not with the same frequency because they are waiting for more traffic to be generated.”
Source:Arecoa.com
