Disappointing performance in logistics and infrastructure

posted on: Mar 4 2010 8:40 by Royston. Viewed 262 times.


The Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Temistocles Montas, acknowledged Monday that the Dominican Republic lags behind in provision of infrastructure and logistic facilities; elements considered essential for a country to achieve a good level of economic and social development.

He disclosed that in 2008, of a total of 116 countries studied, the Dominican Republic was in the lower 37 percent in infrastructure and in the Latin American region was positioned at number 11 out of 22 nations studied.

However, he revealed that in the past three years the Logistics Performance Index, had improved to slightly above the average for the Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the sub region of Central America, specifically in management of customs, international deliveries, ease of monitoring and punctuality.

"If we want to be a prosperous country where people live with dignity, security and peace, to achieve a more equitable society and with low poverty and to achieve competitive placing in the global economy it is necessary to ensure an overall competitive infrastructure and logistics system," said Montas.

Montas spoke at the conference "Infrastructure, Facilitation and Competitiveness for Developing a Better Country" at the headquarters of the Global Foundation on the occasion of the opening of the fourth seminar on Port Management, organized by the Presidential Commission for Modernization and Port Security.

According to a press release from the Global Foundation's Communications Bureau, the statistics quoted by Mont�s indicate that "we walk by flying low" on the most relevant indicators such as percentage of paved roads per capita, consumption of kilowatt-hours of electricity, percentage of people with access to an acceptable water source, as well as people with access to sanitary facilities.

He noted, for example, that for the Dominican Republic to reach the level of infrastructure development of Korea, just relating to paved roads, would require an annual investment equivalent to 4 percent of GDP by 2030, warning that private support would be needed to achieve this goal.

Regarding the perception of logistic facilities for trade, the Dominican Republic is in the group of seven countries best positioned in Latin America, surpassed only by Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica, said the Minister.

However, Montas acknowledged a major effort was needed to improve logistical performance to compete with countries with similar conditions to ours, describing the position as disappointing.

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