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Line 2 of Metro will go to San Luis

First five kilometers and bridge will be ready in two years

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Line 2 of Metro will go to San Luis
SANTO DOMINGO. The City Government of East Santo Domingo (ESD) and the Office for the Reorganization of Transportation (Opret) officially announced yesterday the extension of Line 2 of the Metro towards East Santo Domingo. It will stretch from the head of Francisco del Rosario Sanchez Bridge all the way to the municipal district of San Luis.

"President Danilo orders and authorizes us to report publically the start of the construction of the Third Line of the Metro," declared yesterday the mayor of East Santo Domingo, Juan de los Santos.

The project will be totally underground, the same as the first phase of Line 2 in the National District. It will be approximately 11.5 kilometers long and with the turn-around pens for the trains as much as 12 kilometers. The director of the Office for the Reorganization of Transportation, Diandino Peña, said that the total cost of the metro is US$850 million, which included the construction of a bridge that will connect with the Eduardo Brito Station in the National District, which will cost RD$2.8 billion

The project is divided into several phases. In the first phase there is the construction of a bridge over the Ozama River and the excavation of five kilometers all the way to the Mella Highway along the Vicente de Paul Avenue. Another phase is the tunnels from the Mella Highway to the Charled de Gaulle Avenue; and the third phase is a tunnel from the Charles de Gaulle Avenue to the municipal district of San Luis, including a station at the Community College. The last stretch includes the widening of the Mella Highway as a complementary project due to the narrowness of the road.

The first part might be finished within two years from the start of construction. "The critical path includes the construction of a bridge for the Metro and the excavation in the first stage of five kilometers of a tunnel as far as the Megacentro. We hope that in two years we can take the first trip from the bridge to the Megacentro, which will also include five stations," Peña said.

He defended the cost of the Metro. "This project has the same price as the Lines 1 and 2 of the Metro, a budget to stimulate President Danilo Medina." He pointed out that in addition the government has guaranteed "the flow of money that the project implies."

Impact on all of the system

The Opret directror assured the reporters that once Line 2 East is finished all the way to the municipal district of San Luis, it is expected that 150,000 riders will be immediately added to the system. "This will be so important that the fleet of trains on the other lines will need to be increased," said Diandino.

Mayor De los Santos, who the Opret director praised for his work as a promoter of the project with the President Danilo Medina, indicated that "the project will be built directly with the process of reorganizing the vehicular traffic; it will reduce the hated traffic tie-ups, the cost of passenger transportation and will be provide an extraordinary savings of time, fuel, and money and be an active ingredient in the life of our people."

People will be moved

The director of the Opret indicated that within the work of the construction of the bridge over the Ozama River, the people that are living under the bridge will be moved. "There are a number of houses that we have not yet added up which will be transferred; however we guarantee that the renters and the owners will have fair and dignified treatment," he said. According to Diandino Peña the process of taking a census of the inhabitants has been started but not concluded. Nevertheless, the Opres will decide what to pay the families that are affected and not by relocating the housing, as was done during the first line of the Metro of Santo Domingo for the inhabitants of La Zurza.