Environment Ministry and EGE-HID Will Invest RD $30 Million to Reforest Reservoirs and River Basins

With funds from both entities, a massive amount of trees will be planted in the mountains where six of the country’s most important rivers are born.

One of the agreements contemplates an RD$6 million investment in the reforestation of the river basin of the Palomino hydroelectric project;

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARENA) and the Dominican Hydroelectric Company (EGE-HID) signed two agreements for RD$30 million to be invested in the reforestation in the areas that are the source of the country’s six major rivers.

The two agreements were signed in the headquarters of the Dominican State Electrical Companies (CDEEE) by Jaime David Fernández Mirabal, Minister of Environment, and Rafael Genaro Suero Miliano, President of EGE-HID.

One of the agreements contemplates an RD$6 million investment in the reforestation of the river basin of the Palomino hydroelectric project; the other RD$24 million is earmarked for the creation of a reimbursable fund to reforest eight of the most deforested river basins in the country.

To begin reforestation of the Palomino project, SEMARENA will supply plants, logistical support, technical assistance and training for two brigades of 50 people each. The EGE-HID will supply RD$500 million monthly for a period of two years to pay the personnel. The work will begin in the river basins of the River Grande in the middle of the country and the Yaque River in the south as they are the two zones in the project with the highest degree of deforestation.

The reimbursable fund, RD$2 million monthly (one per institution) for two years, will be used to reforest the river basins that feed into the major hydroelectric plants in the country: the Nizao, which feeds the Valdesia, Jigüey-Aguacate reservoir and Las Barías dam; San Juan, the Sabaneta reservoir and the Canal JJ Puello, Mao (Monción reservoir) and Boba (Boba central hydroelectric plant).

The fund will be used to pay the work brigades that will be made up of groups of 20 people each. These resources will be handed over monthly to SEMARENA in exchange for the presentation of work progress reports.