By Kenza Moller

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Gaping trenches sliced into the asphalt on Maximo Gomez, one of Santo Domingo’s busiest streets, are evidence of a project begun last year to bring an underground subway system to Dominican Republic’s capital, to the disapproval of many Dominicans.

“I think a metro would be a good thing, later on in the future,” says Tami Martinez, 46, a mother and director of a high school. “But at the moment there are too many other problems in the D.R. that need improving: the healthcare system, for example, and the education. Those are more important than a metro.

Last month, Huchi Lora, a Dominican reporter for the newspaper De Medio a Medio, again asked Diandino Peña, the director of the Office for the Reorganization of Transit (OPRET), for the required preliminary studies of the metro, as well as the metro plans. Peña declined to release the documents, claiming that doing so would encroach on national security; Lora insisted that under the country’s Access Information Law the documents should be made public. Earlier, in April, a judge had ruled that Peña and the OPRET should deliver the studies, but Peña has continued to refuse.

Interviewed by DR1, a Dominican news web site, Peña admitted the study was never done. “Documents are now being requested that they knew beforehand don’t exist,” he said. However, he claimed the study was not necessary “but others, of a more scientific nature, were.” He still has not explained which studies those were.

When the metro was first approved in  May 2005 Peña estimated the cost would be near $700 million U.S., but Dominicans and foreigners alike are questioning what it will come to now. Osiris de Leon, a geologist, says the cost will probably rise. The lack of environmental, geological and other studies could lead to unforeseen construction problems, such as danger to nearby buildings and flaws in the metro design, and those could lead to unforeseen expenses, he said.

Approximately 1,000 additional concrete columns were needed to stabilize the metro in loose soil that the necessary geologic tests could have identified earlier, he said. De Leon suggested inviting Greenpeace, an environmental organization, to assess any possible damage, but the government alleges that the Ministry of Environment has responsibility for finding out if any environmental laws were violated. So far, the ministry has not carried out any studies.

“I don’t know why they decided on building a metro,” Moisés Bello, 17,  student from The Community for Learning. “You need electricity 24/7 for that, and our government doesn’t deliver that. How do they plan to run a subway, if a lot of the time homes are being run on generators?”