AMERICA/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - A motorway to unite the country ... even the Church is moving

San Juan (Agenzia Fides) - According to the Bishop of San Juan de la Maguana in the Dominican Republic, His Exc. Mgr. José Dolores Grullón Estrella, the population of the capital has discouraged the President of the Republic, Danilo Medina, from undertaking the construction of the San Juan-Santiago motorway. For this reason, the Archbishop has urged the population of the south to demonstrate to ask for the start of work of this important line of communication that affects the entire country.
The note sent to Fides Agency informs that Mgr. Grullón Estrella invited everyone to demonstrate on Thursday, June 12th, at the Independencia Park in the capital, "because if we are not united, President Medina will never build the San Juan-Santiago motorway" he said. The Bishop spoke during the Mass celebrated in the parish of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, 8th June, on the occasion of the patronal feast of this community.
The construction project of the San Juan-Santiago motorway (about 215 km) has caused controversy among supporters of the project and those who are contrary to the potential ecological damage and the high economic investment it requires. According to data gathered by Fides, the communities of the South, such as the province of San Juan, with its 250 thousand inhabitants, in this way would finally be connected to the rest of the island, but the other side of La Academia de Ciencias de la República Dominicana (ACRD) believes that the construction of the motorway (according to the currently planned route) would damage the natural ecosystem of the area and cause irreversible environmental damage. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 10/06/2014)