DGAPP manages a portfolio of public-private partnership projects that add up to nearly nine billion dollars

SANTO DOMINGO. The initiatives that are currently deposited, in the process of evaluation and adjudication, in the General Directorate of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP) constitute a portfolio of projects of almost 9 trillion dollars and 90% have been proposed by private agents.

The data was offered during the International Specialized Forum “PPPs and their Social and Economic Impact in the Dominican Republic”, organized by the General Directorate of Public Private Partnerships (DGAPP) and the Technological Institute of Santo Dominico (INTEC), with the participation of national and international experts on the subject of public-private alliances.

The welcoming act to the forum was in charge of the Vice-rector for Administration and Finance of INTEC, Alliet Ortega, And executive director of the DGAPP, Sigmund Freund, who pointed out the importance of fostering and deepening the academic debate on such important issues as PPPs and the opportunities they offer for social and economic growth in developing countries such as the Dominican Republic.

The executive director of the DGAPP, Sigmund Freund, in offering the opening words, highlighted that public-private partnerships had always been generated and are generated in the country naturally, but pointed out that "we can not only show a robust institution, Rather, we have a portfolio or bank of projects with more than 14 initiatives, some in a feasibility study, others declared to be of public interest, and one already declared in the award phase”.

He added that since 2021, the Pedernales Tourism Development project in Cabo Rojo has been executed under the figure of the trust and the PPP principles, and he noted with satisfaction that they have awarded the first PPP contract for an infrastructure project, the which consists of the rehabilitation and conversion of the Duarte port in Arroyo Barril-Samaná into a cruise terminal and complementary tourist facility, "an extraordinary achievement for an institution with just two years and seven months," Freund emphasized.

Freund affirmed that "the challenges of PPPs are, without a doubt, much less than the benefits that they are intended to offer to the country's economic development, attracting private, national and foreign capital, towards public projects that serve to solve problems, to promote the development and economic growth that the country requires and, above all, to improve the quality of life of the Dominican people.

On her side, Alliet Ortega, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at INTEC, assured that it is an honor for the university that such an important issue for the development of the country, such as public-private partnerships and their social and economic impact, is discussed. in an international forum.

"As part of our Intecian DNA, one of the pillars of the university has been to contribute to the development of our country, we have an agreement signed with the Directorate of Public-Private Alliance, to promote these issues and in the same way as an academy we are convinced that collaboration between academia, the private sector and the public sector to promote innovation and economic development is a necessity, for this reason our commitment has always been to bet on this triple helix”.

Ortega argued that the importance of this collaboration lies in the fact that each one of the sectors contributes different skills, knowledge and resources that are essential to boost the growth and competitiveness of society.

“From the academy we contribute to research, the development of new technologies and the training of specialized human talent, while the private sector contributes to the financing of the necessary resources to carry out innovative projects and to commercialize the products and services that are generated. Based on them, for its part, the public sector, in this case the DGAPP, in relation to the subject, offers the regulatory framework that encourages innovation and a series of policies and programs that encourage investment and economic development, which It will allow a greater development of the figure in our country”, pointed out Ortega.

Forum Details

The academic activity was developed in two panels moderated by the Deputy Director of Promotion of the DGAPP, Izalia López, the first on "Benefits of the PPP model: project planning and financing.", with the participation of the general director of public investment, Martín Franco , and PPP experts, Federico Villalobos (Costa Rica) and Rafael Dickson (Dominican Republic).

In a second panel, the practical case "Puerto Duarte: Challenges of Structuring Private Initiatives" was addressed, with the interventions of Jorge Aguilar, advisor to the Commercial Law Development Program of the United States Department of Commerce; the commercial director of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom), Scarlet Rodriguez; the investment director of ProDominicana, Marcial Smester; and the financial consultant, Schafik Collazo (El Salvador).

INTEC-DGAPP agreement

The holding of this forum is part of the collaboration agreement signed in 2022 to encourage academic training and professionalization in public-private partnerships.

Through this agreement, the DGAPP and INTEC agreed to coordinate activities (teaching, research, training, dissemination) related to PPPs, their regulatory and institutional scheme, the decisions and resolutions of the Directorate and the National Council of Public Private Alliances ( CNAPP).

Both entities also agreed to provide mutual collaboration in the development of: research activities, seminars, courses, workshops, exchange of academic and scientific documents, joint training programs, joint publications, scholarship programs, internships for INTEC graduates, visits institutions for undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education students, and other academic and scientific activities.