2022 was a challenging year with notable improvements in terms of public investment projects (PIP). Although the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, during his accountability on February 27, spent several minutes detailing the works that are underway, a recent preliminary report provides more concrete figures on the subject.
Paradoxically, the construction that made the least “flaunt” was the work with the highest budget execution, according to a report prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (Mepyd). For line 2C of the Santo Domingo Metro, in its Los Alcarrizos sections up to Luperón avenue, a total of RD$7,041.5 million was accrued.
It is a figure that represents 24% of the total cost of the project, which is equal to RD$29,353.5 million. However, during his accountability, the president limited himself to saying: “the extension of line 2-C to Los Alcarrizos will be completed next year 2024.”
As detailed in a series of reports carried out by this medium, the 2022 Budget Bill detailed that the start-up of this work would imply an investment of RD$3,183,629,078, only for that year.
As of June 2022, the assigned amount had risen to RD$3,583.60 million, that is, it increased by 12.57%. By December of that year, according to the Ministry of Finance (MH), the figure was equivalent to RD$7,213.8 million, of which RD$6,310.1 million had been accrued. That is, the budgeted increased by 126.6%
From the reallocation budgeted in the middle of last year (RD$3,583.6 million), to what was executed at the end of the period (RD$7,041.5 million), according to the new data available, the amount required for the work increased by 96.51% in just six months.
The Office for the Reordering of Transportation (Opret), the entity in charge of the work, was among the institutions with the highest budget execution. It was equivalent to 9.3% of the total for the year and line 2C of the metro implied 89.38% of what that entity did during 2022. The report indicates that it executed a total of RD$7,878.8 million.
The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (Mopc) had an amount of RD$20,369.2 million (24.1% of the total execution), followed by the Ministry of Housing and Buildings (Mived) with RD$13,500.2 million (16% of the total executed). These three institutions occupy 49.4% of the total execution in 2022.
The National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (Inapa), however, was the institution with the highest execution in relation to its programming, with an executed amount of RD$6,709.3 million, or 263.8% of its programming, followed by Mopc with 186.4 % and the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Indrhi) with an execution of RD$6,738.9 million, 162.0% of the amount programmed by said institution
As detailed in the report, the largest amount of resources allocated to the PIP were directed to the Transportation function, with an amount of RD$29,294.3 million, or 34.7% of the total execution. This is followed by housing and community services, with an execution of RD$16,180.0 million or 19.1% of the total executed.
Only these two functions together represented 53.8% of the total amount executed for the year.
Plays
With 460 public investment projects, the agency points out that it exceeds the historical average registered from 2017 to 2022 of 206 projects. The total cost was RD$250,766.7 million, the highest amount approved in the last five years.
Although 47.1% of the projects approved in 2022 correspond to both housing and community services (154 projects) and 21.5% to the health sector (99 projects), the projects with the highest total cost are in transportation with RD$111,649.9 million (44.5% of the total approved), of which RD$54,454 million (57%) will be allocated to rail transportation. In second place is Health with an approved amount of RD$81,869.1 million.
The institution with the highest number of projects approved in 2022 was Mived, which registered 142 projects (30.9% of the total approved), followed by Mopc, with 68 projects (14.8% of the total).
On the other hand, the institution with the highest approved investment cost was Mived for RD$90,480.6 million, of which RD$36,508.0 million (40.3%) will be used for the construction and equipment of the sanitary city of Santiago de los Caballeros. The second place is occupied by the Mopc with RD$56,521.6 allocated to the rehabilitation and maintenance of highways and neighboring roads at the national level.