The Cibao Ecological Society (Soeci) on Sunday reiterated its opposition of the route announced by Public Works minister Gonzalo Castillo to build the Cibao (North)-South Highway, citing “serious environmental damage” to protected areas. The announced route could harm more than 100 water sources and around 15 million square meters of protected forests.

Last week Castillo announced the rout encompassing Sabaneta, San Juan in the south, to the Cibao region of Santiago, as the most suitable, taking into account the ecology, cost and distance. The route from Sabaneta cuts through the Central Mountain Range, the source of most of Dominican Republic’s major rivers.

SOECI president Víctor Medrano said a road built along the announced route would cause severe damage to forests and several major rivers, among them the Yaque North, which supplies several aqueducts in the Cibao. “It’s a mistake to build a road taking into account only the shortest route and the economic cost, forgetting the environmental factor.”

He suggests three options: The International Highway that links the Southwest in the Northwest (Pedro Santana and Restauracion); Jarabacoa-(Constanza) Ocoa-San Juan and Piedra Blanca-Rancho Arriba-Ocoa-San Juan.

For original article, see http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/tourism/2014/5/19/51509/Environmentalists-3-better-routes-for-cross-mountain-highway