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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSDorado To Invest $140 Million In Short- & Long-Term Infrastructure ProjectsBY LIDA ESTELA RUAÑONovember 8, 2001 The municipality of Dorado has in the pipeline projects totaling close to $140 million, which include 300 social interest houses, a boardwalk bordering the Atlantic Ocean–starting at the public beach in Punta Salinas and ending in Dorado’s La Plata River–and the $97 million channeling of the La Plata River. Dorado Mayor Carlos Lopez said that the largest housing project will be the 300 social interest homes to be built in Barrio Higuillar as part of the special communities program the Calderon administration is sponsoring island-wide. The $70,000 houses will be sold to qualified buyers and to those living in high-risk areas who will receive a federal subsidy to purchase the homes for which they will only pay $100 monthly, Lopez said adding the private sector will start construction in the second quarter of 2002. Total cost for the project is between $23 million and $25 million. The channeling of Rio La Plata, a project expected to take 10 years to complete, has an estimated $97 million cost. Lopez anticipates the project will start during the second quarter of 2002, at Rio La Plata’s mouth, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. From there, it will continue through Toa Baja until it crosses under PR-2. The project is being done by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the municipalities of Dorado and Toa Baja. The Paseo del Atlantico, a boardwalk for jogging, walking and bicycling bordering the ocean, similar to the one in Piñones, is slated to start construction late next year or early in 2003. Lopez envisions a boardwalk that will end at Dorado’s Rio La Plata in the recreational area of Ojo del Buey. "We want them to cross the river on a hand and cable-driven ferry, like the one they used to have in Loiza’s Rio La Plata," the mayor said. This project, with an estimated $7 million to $8 million cost, will be done in coordination with the municipality of Toa Baja and the Puerto Rico Highways Authority. The municipal government is involved in a $6 million project to bury all electric cables along the town’s main street, Mendez Vigo. The first phase, from the bridge at the entrance of the town and up to City Hall has been completed. The second phase will bury the cables underground up to the Rafael Hernandez Colon Pavillion. Another project, which has already been bid, is widening PR-693 up to PR-22, at a $3.8 million cost, slated to begin construction during the first quarter of 2002. Another project, to be started next year, is the new six-story City Hall. It will be built across from the old city hall where a public vehicles terminal is now located. The project for the new millennium city hall is in the design stages now. "We have big plans for the town of Dorado and the private sector is also moving full speed ahead with a roster of projects of upper middle and high-end residential properties," Lopez said. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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