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Cristobal's first state project

Education raffled yesterday 462 projects all over the country, 24 of them in the National District

Santo Domingo. Cristobal Portorreal, a 73-year-old civil engineer, was the first winner in the drawings for projects which the Ministry of Education held yesterday in the National District, with the construction of a childcare center valued at RD $32,825,944.46.

A mixture of applause and guttural noises were immediately heard after the Notary Christina Rosario read his name, written on the ticket which was drawn by student Pedro Alejandro Prensa, from the transparent barrel. The sounds came from the right side of the main hall of the Public Works Club, where the drawings were held.


Then a short man appeared, thin with a scraggly gray beard, wearing white sneakers, a little black bag hanging on one side and a blue baseball cap on his head and, with the folder in his hand, climbed up to the registration table to prove his identity. Minutes later Portorreal could still not talk.

"I am so excited that I can hardly talk, and so excited, that with this surprise that luck has given me," he said with humid eyes filled with tears.

The history of this father of 6 children, who lives in Bayona, West Santo Domingo, is an example of self-improvement. He graduated as an engineer at 61 from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) with a lot of sacrifice and willpower.

"I began to study late, because I am the son of rural parents and little resources, who couldn't even send me to school. I began to study (at school) when I reached the capital, already a young man," he explained.

He worked in construction and masonry a large part of his life, so that he knew in practice, but lacked the theory. And he had never built a project for the state, but he did build family houses and projects in the private sector as a master builder. Paragraph he went looking for the opportunity of his life and he registered in as many drawings of projects that were opened by the state, until his luck was fulfilled.

In the National District 18 childcare centers were raffled and 6 schools. And some 694 persons interested were registered including engineers, architects and companies.

The method is appreciated

Although some of the participants complained of organizational problems at the start of the drawing, they agreed on the importance of the method. Architect Julio Nadal argued that this format be maintained, since it opens opportunities for everyone. According to the Ministry of Education, around 15,000 persons registered around the country for this drawing.