Sigmund Freundrecently sworn in as Minister of Public Administration (MAP)reported that it will not abandon the tourism development project of Flintswhich he carries out from his position in the General Directorate of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP).
“By decision of the President, we will continue to manage the Pro-Pedernales trust until we can make a kind of transformation from the trust to a mixed capital company 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 body to the Pro-Pedernaes Trust which was a vehicle that was created in a specific and particular manner to promote and structure the development of Pedernales.
He said that the project has a particular dimension and exceeds what was the DGAPP’s competences in its own internal regulations when the Pedernales trust was established.
“This trust is the receptacle of the assets that the Dominican State has been providing, such as land and resources to build infrastructure, and is managed independently,” he said.
Freund indicated, in the radio program “Párate Ya” on Los 40 de 88.5 FM, that in Pedernales, during the development of tourism projects, there has been growth.
“In recent years, Hotel development in the town of Pedernales was scarce and it was because it is a destination, and still is a bit distant from Santo Domingo and not having the conditions of hospitality, restaurants and everything else, the local visitor went a lot to Bahía de las Águilas, Ecos del Mar, the caves… one night and returned to SD, however, by virtue of the fact that the President designated 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 detailed.
In this regard, he indicated that in the town of Pedernales there is already an increase from 8 to 10 hotels, in addition to several Airbnb and many restaurants.
The manager recalled that the project of Red Cape, which they are executing, they are building three hotels that will provide 1,700 rooms. “Two hotels Hyatt and a Hotel Iberostar which would be ready next May 2025 and then a Hyatt in June or July and the other at the end of the same year 2025.”
Freund said that before reaching the point where the development of the area is located, there was a lot of uncertainty and disbelief, since there had been talk of development for many years and nothing had happened, until now. For this reason, he said that the creation of the Hotel complex, which will bring with it a flow of visitors, is being done under the coordination of a study of tourist load 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 number of people that could be there on Cabo Rojo beach and on Bahía de las Águilas beach. In other words, going above the number that was studied would already be affecting that area. But we are doing more anyway, since the law establishes that hotels should be 60 metres away from the beach, and in Pedernales we have taken the law to 160 metres so that all the sensitive areas between the beach, the first coastline and the building are not directly impacted by the construction,” he said.
He reiterated that Pedernales will have a tourism project that is historic compared to everything that has been done in the Dominican Republic and that is why Cabo Rojo will position itself as a beach destination but with a very large and positive impact on the environmental level.
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 a year ago the Santo Domingo-Cabo Rojo route was inaugurated – Mondays and Fridays – which the DGAPP was subsidizing as a trust (to encourage visits to the area). “The airline continues to operate the route although not with the same frequency because they are waiting for more traffic to be generated.”