Five months after President Luis Abinader came to power, a period of ambitious initiatives due to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access to health for all, with the announcement that over one million people will be integrated in Senasa, increase the salary for police and military, delivery of 100 million pesos to artists, providing strict measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, tourism promotion, economy , relations with Haiti and, most recently, the National Housing Plan, are some of the points that characterized the Government during this period.
HOUSEHOLDS
In his promise of decent housing for every Dominican, the president presented, on January 13, the National Housing Plan “Happy Family”, which intends to have an impact on 61,000 families in four years.
This project aims to build 11,000 new homes in the first year of implementation alone and 17,000 in the following years. Also, according to the president, it would generate more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the next 4 years.
However, by the first week of January, the president had delivered 2,789 permanent certificates to the owners of plots, houses and apartments in 23 provinces of the country.
Economy and tourism
Abinader has combined the efforts of all sectors of the population to advance economically. He continued with aid programs that began Danilo Medina’s previous term: Employee Solidarity Assistance Funds (Phase 1) and “Stay Home” programs were extended through April this year at a cost of $ 21,000 million RD .
The economic sectors that have recovered the most these days are the industrial, agricultural, free zones, construction and mining. The main challenge was bars, restaurants and tourism.
For the tourism sector, several investments have been initiated and even a plan has been created to promote it locally, in which many five-star hotels would be for sale, as well as interest-free loans for family holidays.
Education
“By the beginning of the school year, all children and young people in schools and high schools in the Dominican Republic will have a tablet or a laptop,” Abinader told the National Assembly on August 16.
The second period of the school year has already begun and the promise has not been fully fulfilled; Instead, the National Education Plan was implemented, which included that students without access to the Internet or digital devices receive courses through national television and radio.
Regarding school breakfast, food kits made of non-perishable products are distributed among students’ families.
The benefits of the police
Another of the most recent projects is the increase of salaries for members of the National Police (PN). The adjustment would consist of an increase of between 10 and 40%, starting in January.
In addition, at the end of December, Abinader announced the inclusion of over 39 thousand PN members in the Premium service of the National Health Service (Senasa), without additional payment and with a drug coverage of 19 thousand pesos per month.
Likewise, the Government has established that the passage will be free on OMSA buses, Santo Domingo subway and cable car.
The military will also receive salaries, although the value of the increase has not yet been disclosed. However, the head of state ordered more than 49 million pesos for the Ministry of Defense to pay back arrears from 2015 to retired soldiers and widows of the armed forces.
Fight with COVID19
When he took office, Abinader announced an increase in the health budget by more than US $ 66 billion in the first four months of government to deal with the health crisis caused by the pandemic.
The country expects 10 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to arrive in February. Although on Friday, the Health Cabinet reported that the government signed an agreement with the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, thus providing 7.9 million doses of BNT162b2 vaccine, against Covid-19 for the second quarter of 2021.
The country has already experienced 17 extinctions since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. The last seven were ordered by Luis Abinader, the penultimate being the strictest by banning the movement of people after lunch.
Other provisions were the future 30% increase in the basic salary for doctors and incentives, he promised to affiliate 2 million Dominicans to the National Health Insurance (Senasa) and the investment of millions for the construction and completion of hospitals in the country.
Relations with Haiti
Since its inception, the current government has shown interest in promoting diplomatic relations with Haiti through visits by the president to the border, as well as through arranged meetings with diplomatic entities in the neighboring country.
An agreement was recently signed between the two nations that includes working to register the citizens of that country who are on Dominican territory in the Haitian civil registry. In addition, it deals with the construction of hospitals in Haiti and the opening of negotiations for the maritime delimitation between the two countries.