Dominican Republic: Tourism sector takes strict measures against cholera, top hotelier says

Hotels and Tourism Association (Asonahores) spokesman Arturo Villanueva said in Santo Domingo last Sunday 29 May that his sector has adopted all the necessary control measures of international standards to prevent cholera in the country’s tourism regions and that they are on high alert.

Villanueva said the tourism sector is calm because it’s a wide ranging and efficient operation, including a prevention program in the handling of foods to newspaper Hoy in an interview.

Dominican Republic: Nine Cholera Cases

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The number of cases of cholera rose to nine in Dominican Republic, according to the authorities after the detection of two more people in the northern province of Santiago.

They are an 11-month-old girl and a man of 25, both Haitians, said Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez to reporters. “Both the infant and the man are in “stable” condition and have been hospitalized, said the minister.

Dominican Republic: Mayoral candidates focus on sanitation, waste collection

Roberto Salcedo, mayor of the Dominican Republic’s Distrito Nacional is promising to improve the city’s sanitation network if he is re-elected in the upcoming polls, local paper Listín Diario reported.

Read full article on:  BNAmericas [subscription site], 23 Apr 2010

Miss USA changes view on the world after visiting Third-World poverty

Kristen Dalton, Miss USA 2009, traveled to Bayaguana, Dominican Republic with Children International to help raises awareness about the inaccessibility of clean water many children and families face. Dalton worked with Children International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization to educate impoverished communities on clean-water practices, and assist them in cleaning their primary water source, Los Pomos River.

“Water is the most basic and vital resource there is. It’s heartbreaking to know children living in poverty have limited access to clean drinking water. Many children and families in the communities I visited walk for hours to find clean water, only to store it where it can be contaminated by animals or insects,” said Dalton.

During her trip to Bayaguana, a small city with a large Haitian immigrant population, Dalton was joined by 30 members of Children International’s Youth Health Corps, a group of peer educators teaching their community how to make healthy decisions, and 36 contestants of the Miss Dominican Republic Universe pageant, who all worked together to remove trash in and around Los Pomos River.

After the river cleanup, Dalton joined members of the Youth Health Corps at a seminar for local mothers on the importance of clean drinking water and its proper storage. At the end, she helped distribute water containers to attendees, which will aid in keeping their drinking water clean.

Dalton added, “I met so many children whose families are extremely poor. The village I saw was just a really tiny area of extremely small, wooden or tin huts. The floors are dirt, and many kids do not have beds. It makes me think twice before complaining about the stresses and worries in my life. I have spent mornings worrying about what I’m going to wear. This community is are worried about finding clean drinking water and staying healthy since they do not have access to healthcare. Knowing and seeing the differences in our daily stresses frames my perspective and reminds me not to worry about trivial things. I hope by sharing my experience in Bayaguana, others are inspired into action as well.”

While there, government officials took note of Miss USA’s work with local children and youth. Dominican Republic Vice President Rafael Alburquerque and Cabinet minister Manuel de Jesus Perez Gomez commended Dalton for her advocacy on behalf of impoverished children, and applauded her use of her crown to improve their lives and health. On behalf of the children of his city, the mayor of Bayaguana also thanked Miss USA for her activism.

Children International President and CEO Jim Cook said, “We appreciate Miss USA’s hands-on clean-water work in the name of children in need. She is truly a passionate advocate for impoverished children everywhere.”

Source: Miss USA changes her view on the world after encountering Third-World poverty, DominicanToday, 15 Apr 2010

Dominican Republic: hospitals facing water shortages due to drought

Hospitals in the Dominican Republic are experiencing water shortages due to the severe drought affecting the country. Some hospitals are even having to buy water from private firms which sell water from trucks. Other health institutions have requested assistance from the capital Santo Domingo’s water utility Caasd.

Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 08 Apr 2010

Dominican Republic: Indrhi to become Unesco water management centre

The Dominican Republic water authority (Indrhi) is to become a regional Unesco water management centre. The two entities signed an agreement outlining the plan during a visit of Unesco director Irina Bokova.

As part of the agreement, Unesco will send water experts to work locally and will include the center in the programs it is carrying out in the area.

Indrhi will perform the following functions per the agreement:

1. promote and perform scientific research on water management in the region, and hydrologic aspects thereof;
2. promote and facilitate applications of technology towards better practical use of water;
3. expand and coordinate research activities, in cooperation with the various international agencies and the relevant entities of the States of the region, most particularly by taking advantage of the scientific and professional capacities of the region, as well as using the corresponding networks of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP);
4. organize and implement activities for knowledge and information transfer for training and upgrading the human resource base for sustainable water resources management, and for hydrological aspects of interest to the States of the region;
5. provide reliable information on water resources and their sustainable management by improving the transfer and sharing of information strategies, and the means of dissemination and assimilation of such information;
6. deliver consulting and technical advice in the region and in other countries, as requested by the interested parties and in fulfillment of the Centre’s objectives;
7. issue scientific and technical publications and informative materials in the form and formats deemed appropriate, on the issues of sustainable water resources management and related and/or supplementary themes, as well as on hydrological aspects of interest to the States of the region.

The initiative will allow the center for the sustainable management of water resources in Caribbean island states (Cehica) to operate together with other international water centers.

Cehica is managed by Indrhi president Frank Rodríguez and supported by Unesco.

Source: UNESCO Water Portal Bi-monthly Newsletter, No. 229, 01 Apr 2010

Dominican Republic: Inapa to invest US$206mn in 50 potable water, sewerage projects

The Dominican Republic’s national water utility Inapa announced it is investing 7.5bn pesos (US$207mn) in 50 potable water and sewerage projects throughout the country.  In 2009, Inapa repaired, rehabilitated and built 232 potable water and sewerage systems, and implemented an additional 229 small and medium potable water and sewerage projects.

Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 02 Mar 2010

Dominican Republic: GTZ donates US$12.9mn to preserve water resources

The German cooperation agency (GTZ) has approved a 9.5mn-euro (US$12.9mn) donation for the Dominican Republic to be invested in a water program, paper Hoy reported.

The so-called Progeren program aims to protect the country’s water basins to guarantee long-term potable water supply in the Dominican Republic.

The resources will be used to carry out the project’s third phase, which is scheduled to finish in February 2012.

The Progeren initiative began in 2003 with a total budget of 13.5mn euros, to be financed by GTZ.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 26 Feb 2010

Latin America: authorities aim to replicate programmes of Dominican Republic’s water authority Indrhi

Panama’s environment authority Anam and Mexico’s Querétaro University are interested in duplicating programs that have been developed by the Dominican Republic’s water authority Indrhi. Anam said they want to create a programne, similar to Indrhi, to teach people the correct use of water resources, while the Mexican delegation showed interest in signing cooperation agreements with Indrhi. The foreign delegation also visited the Centro para la Gestión Sostenible de los Recursos Hídricos en los Estados Insulares del Caribe (CEHICA). (See also: Republica Dominicana: el INDRH alberga la sede de centro para la gestión del agua en los estados insulares del Caribe, Boletines de Noticias, 26 Oct 2009)

Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 03 Feb 2010

Latin America: Camif mezzanine fund in advanced negotiations – Empla

The Central American mezzanine infrastructure fund (Camif), which closed in 2009 at US$150mn, is offering long-term funding in 10 Latin American countries. The fund’s partners are IDB, the World Bank’s IFC, the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei), the Mexican Fondo de Fondos (CMIC) and the Finnish fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund).

The fund will focus on traditional infrastructure projects but it will also invest in related sectors such as water and sanitation, wastewater treatment, recycling and irrigation.

Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 14 Jan 2010