Español 
English 
SANTO DOMINGO.-The Trade Facilitation Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAMDR), held this Tuesday the discussion “The future of land cargo mobility”, with the participation in a first central moment of the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Deligne Ascensión, the director of the Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (INTRANT), Hugo Beras and José Enrique Pérez, consultant of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
During the meeting, the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Deligne Ascensión highlighted the efforts made by the institution he directs for the development of the country's road infrastructure, in order to make land freight mobility more efficient, making significant investments, for the construction of new motorways and highways and the expansion, maintenance and rehabilitation of existing ones.
“The set of ring highways and new highways that we are executing at the national level are extremely important to reduce the travel time for automobiles and land cargo between the main cities of the country, interconnecting the productive or tourist poles with the seaports and airports in the entire Dominican Republic”, said Ascension during his presentation.
For his part, Hugo Beras, director of INTRANT, highlighted the various projects and initiatives that the institution he heads are developing, among which he framed the agreement signed this Monday with Google and its traffic and navigation application Waze, in order to guarantee the road safety when driving throughout the national territory and avoiding accidents, in addition to supplying the country with the necessary technology to monitor land cargo through GPS systems.
“Yesterday, Google executives observed that the DR will be the first country to apply for traffic management and traffic accident mitigation with the use of drones and that is why we will be a model of success in this sense, since the first stage of this project will cover the National District and Greater Santo Domingo, and gradually it will be replicated throughout the country," said Beras.
In addition, José Enrique Pérez, an IDB consultant, presented the progress achieved so far in the country for the "Digitac-hub" program, a regional project that aims to transform the land cargo sector and become the platform for innovation and solutions. applied to automotive cargo mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean, betting on innovation, user training, support and easy financing.
"We want this platform to allow the sharing of knowledge in digital solutions, facilitate this type of solutions and small carriers in the region, to ultimately become the digital one stop shop," explained Pérez.
During the AMCHAMDR Talks, a discussion panel was held among experts where the guests spoke about the main challenges and opportunities that the land cargo sector has in the Dominican Republic. The panelist were: Manuel Rodríguez, IDB transport specialist, Marco Henríquez, general manager of Henríquez y Asociados, Raúl Rizek, president of Constructora Rizek, Armando Rivas, president of the National Land Transportation Network (RNTT) and Juan Antonio de la Mota, corporate manager of Corripio Group Customs. The panel was moderated by Cristyan Peralta, Vice President of the AMCHAMDR Trade Facilitation Committee.
Manuel Rodríguez, IDB transport specialist, explained that the country is among the best in terms of road infrastructure in the entire region, however, he framed that land freight transport can find opportunities for improvement in the formalization and regulation of the sector.
For his part, Marco Henríquez, general manager of Henríquez y Asociados, highlighted the efforts of the authorities to establish the Restricted Access Zone (ZAR), which limits the circulation of land cargo transportation in the National District. Henríquez pointed out that “ZAR is a social responsibility, which, although it makes operations more expensive, as a country generates fewer costs; we have to do it and support it”.
Meanwhile, the president of Constructora Rizek, Raúl Rizek, highlighted the need to complete the road projects already started, since these micro and macro infrastructure works are one of the windows that will allow land freight transportation to continue advan
Meanwhile, Armando Rivas, president of the RNTT, assured that in order to talk about the "Logistics Hub", it is necessary to include security in the conversation, which allows guaranteeing the correct distribution of the supply chain. In addition, Rivas pointed out the efforts made for 16 years in the RNTT, who have created a database open to the public, and to which the authorities have access, which allows the identification of cargo trucks, data on their drivers and companies to which that belong.
Lastly, Juan Antonio de la Mota, corporate manager of Grupo Corripio Customs, said that for private companies with mass distribution systems it is necessary to maintain constant control and monitoring of land cargo, guaranteeing compliance in fundamental aspects such as delivery time, merchandise quality, etc.
This TALKS was possible thanks to the support of member companies of the Chamber's Elite Circle: AES Dominicana, Barrick Pueblo Viejo, Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, Citi, HIT Puerto Río Haina, Grupo Humano, Inicia, Grupo Martí, Altice Dominicana, Grupo Rica , Grupo SID, Grupo Punta Cana, Grupo Estrella and Squire Patton Boggs. In addition, we especially thank Banco BHD, Banreservas, DP World, Popular, Banesco, IMCA, DIF, VIMENPAQ y DPH.
About the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR)
The American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR for its acronym in English) is a non-profit association, legally incorporated on November 8, 1923, which promotes a healthy investment climate based on access to knowledge, opportunities and a culture of best practices for the socioeconomic and professional development of its partners. AMCHAMDR is affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a founding member of the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA).