Academy of Sciences concerned with the construction of power plants in Estero Balsa Park

EL NUEVO DIARIO, SANTO DOMINGO. – The President of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic, Eleuterio Marínez, on Sunday expressed concern that some of the plants of the Manzanillo Energy Project will be built in the Estero Balsa National Park.

“In the case of Manzanillo,” I don’t know if you know that Estero Balsa is actually an estuary, it is the Chaqui River whose waters flow there, and as I understand it, some plants will be built moreover, practically at the mouth of this river, which is practically Estero Balsa, considered Estero Balsa is the National Park, also called Estero Balsa, as explained by the famous ecologist.

Interviewed by Héctor Herrera Cabral on the “D’Agenda” programme, Martínez explained that there is confusion because Estero Balsa is considered part of the Port of Manzanillo and it is not, because the port is being built in the future and, therefore, he said the work is probably not the biggest problem.

The environmentalist and academic argued that these plants, because they are hydrocarbons, because they are the largest fuel that will be used there, should be done with all the care in the world, even if they cost a little bit, because all the work of conservation, of doing things well, costs.

And he wished that all provisions of the place should be taken, and that the works to be carried out there should be for the benefit of the North-West Line, which deserves much help and co-operation, since poverty is great in those frontiers. The area, and the main retaining wall for irregular Haitian immigration, will be investments in businesses that generate employment, but guarantee irreplaceable wealth, which is the mangrove forests of Estero Balsa.

“It’s just been complained that they’re going to build some sort of shipyard over one of the lakes over there, because it’s at sea level, and all that can be done, but out there, at the top, it doesn’t stay connected to the sea, all these things, I hope that expectations will be taken, because we believe in the development of Manzanillo,” said the president of the Academy of Sciences.

He added that members of the academy, “Eleuterio Martinez, Milton Martinez, Luis Carvajal, Venicia Bonelli, Felicita Heredia, we are all experts in this field, we had it there in Manzanillo, we knew and analyzed the reality, we don’t still know that there is an environmental license, But I know that this is coming, because it is a project that the government already attaches all importance to in the world, and with which we agree.

“Now, what we do not know in depth are the available studies, environmental licensing requires more than what is stipulated in Law 64-00, see if we put this law into practice, we can say that we have a country that is moving towards sustainable development, because there are all the rules that you must adhere to It has to give an environmental license, and there is no way to go wrong there.

Eleuterio pointed out that the aforementioned rule requires periodic reports called “Environmental Compliance Report, every six months, you must say, this business I build with all the care that the law requires, after six months it has something to say,” look at the behavior the environment has been in “.

“In the environment, they have to check it, say it’s perfect and can continue with its activities, if there’s anything wrong it’s recommended to be corrected, and the next environmental compliance report should be done a year later, not because you happened, is that from the beginning you have to say, look, The business that will be built is this, on such resources, the impact and the damage that I will have is this, but I will treat it, and I will treat it again in this way, and this is called the Environmental Management and Adaptation Plan,” he said.

He noted that “You must comply with that planned plan, because you already know the damage it will do, and I am correcting it in the ways that have already been explained, if it is done at Manzanillo, look, there is no cause for fear.”

Eleuterio Martinez says the factory scares him a little because of the fragile place in which he plans to build it

Martinez said the plant to be built, within the Manzanillo Energy Project, scares him a little bit because of the shaky place he plans to build in.

“The Factory scares us a little bit because there’s a little bar, I don’t know if you knew that saladillo was a bay until recently, and that the Bay has a little wall just where the road that connects you to Carbonera and Kobe is. If we realize it’s a little bar, a little wall, as If it had been built with a mechanical shovel, but nature did, it means that it carries you over dry ground, but it is very fragile,” he warned.

However, the environmentalist specified that, “Therefore, we will do everything, because anything is possible, providing ample assurance that no further damage will be done to these ecosystems, especially when they are so fragile that they unite such a national park on the other hand, To protect the second most important mangrove swamp in the Dominican Republic, the largest is in Samana Bay, the second largest being Manzanillo Bay.

Martínez emphasized that natural wealth is defined in the Constitution of the Republic as patrimonial assets, and as such, you are bound to understand that this pertains to all Dominicans, not just to the neighboring people of Montecristi and Dajapon. All Dominicans, so you need to take all necessary measures.

“Let him invest, we are ready for the state to invest as much as it wants to ensure wealth and jobs for the benefit of the population,” he explained.

He acknowledged the role of the private sector as a concessionaire, although he regretted that in many times he did not see the recovery of capital except in the shortest possible time, and that could not be the policy of the state.

“In order to ensure that he gets back what he invested because, what is the logic, but to do it as God commanded, and there is what happened with mining companies, that they are only interested in assets, not liabilities,” the famous academic shrugged.

Regarding mangroves, the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic called them the third most valuable ecosystem for humanity, after tropical forests and coral reefs.

In another matter, with regard to the construction of the fence in the border strip, Eleuterio Martínez explained that what worries the Academy is not the fence itself, it is the wall on which a very large padding must be made, instead of putting nets in its place. The movement of the water is permitted, strong enough that no man can move through it, for where the mangroves are, a bridge can be made, and under a steel-reinforced grate where there is no way of crossing it all.

Regarding his work plans for four years to guide the scientific establishment, the famous environmental expert said that the highest aspiration is food sovereignty, and that everything we need can be produced, regardless of everything that happens outside, and the second axis is water, because all the sources of the precious liquid in the country You are born and die in the Dominican lands, which means that the water does not come from anywhere else.

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