Good news for power supply

A US$100,000,000  wind farm has opened in Juancho, Pedernales in the south west of the country, producing electricity for the region.  The two phase development will eventually produce 83 megawatts of power.

It is expected that this will bring new development to one of the most beautiful but as yet underdeveloped regions of the country and is also good news for environmentalists. 

West Indies Real Estate is a leader in the encouragement of eco-friendly development and has land suitable for bio fuels.  We only list a small proportion of this on our website, so please contact us for futher details.

National 9/11 Museum will honor 47 Dominicans

The names of 47 Dominicans, including several women, who died in the Al Qaeda terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, will be included in the National Museum and Memorial that will be inaugurated on Monday 12 September. El Nuevo Diario reports the men and women were computer specialists, IT personnel, financial managers, restaurant employees, messengers, educators and even tourists.

One of the most mentioned names is Pedro Checo, the vice-president of operations for the Fiduciary Trust and a lover of fast cars. He died trying to save others that day. Faustino Apostol, a 55-year old firefighter of Battalion 2, died in the towers while saving lives. He had served in the NYFD for 28 years. Victoria Alvares Brito, who worked in the finance department of Marsh & McLennan, and David Agnez who was an assistant to the vice-president of Cantor Fitzgerald and Frank Thomas Aquilino, one of the rising stars at Cantor Fitzgerald, a partner at 26 and a vice-president. There are many other names on the list, and each one has its own life story. 

West Indies Real Estate honours all of those who died on September, 11th, 2001.

Beach clean up day

Non-governmental environmental campaigning organization Vida Azul is once more coordinating the International Coastal Clean-up Day in the Dominican Republic. The event is co-sponsored by Ocean Conservancy, an international NGO, as a local action that makes an important contribution to global change. All year long, organizations and individuals across the globe take part in Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup to remove trash and debris from the world's beaches and waterways, identify the sources of that debris, and change the behaviors that allow it to reach the ocean in the first place.

The event has become the world's largest volunteer effort for ocean health, with an estimated nine million volunteers from 152 countries and locations have participated.

Over the past 25 years the volunteers have cleaned over 145 million pounds of pounds of trash from the shores of lakes, rivers, streams, sea and ocean the world over on just one day each year. 

The Dominican Republic has some of the best beaches in the world and the north coast is a perfect place to enjoy them, with a pleasant mix of Dominican people and international residents.  If you are considering purchasing Dominican Republic property, please contact us and we will be happy to share our 25 years of experience with you.

The bulk of Dominican exports is concentrated in just 23 products.

As reported in Diario Libre, during the first five months of the year, 23 products accounted for US$2.49 billion of the total US$3.2 billion exported. This year exports are up 18%, about US$381.89 million more than last year.
The leading exports were:

• blood transfusion apparatus (US$147.66 million)
• cotton apparel (US$118.28 million)
• handmade cigars (US$102.45 million)
• raw sugar (US$100.3 million)
• ferronickel (US$72.27 million)
• electrical switches (US$68.26 million)
• disposable medical equipment (US$66.83 million)                                                           
• bananas (US$65.45 million)
• gasoline (US$60.27 million)
• steel rods (US$60.16 million)
• disposable sheets (US$48.60million)
• sugar cane rum (US$42.87 million)

If you are interested in doing business or growing crops for export in the Dominican Republic, please contact us and we will be pleased to advise on suitable properties.

According to French Ambassador, Roland Dubertrand, Dominican exports to Europe increased 21% in 2010, as a result of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in 2008.

Dubertrand was speaking at the Sustainable Workshop organized by the Dominican-French Chamber of Commerce (CCDF) last month. Trade between the DR and France was around EUR140 million, of which around EUR80 million accounted for exports from France and EUR60 million from the DR to France, as reported in El Dia.

Agricultural produce accounts for a large percentage of exports. We have just a small selection of farms and parcels of land featured on our website, but many more available.  Please contact us with your requirements and we will be sure to find what you are looking for.

Interest Rate on Bonds explained by Bankers

With harsh comments about the "real" interest rates on the sovereign bonds recently placed on the world market, two bankers explain how the figures were reached.

Diario Libre said that two executives of Barclays and J.P. Morgan who negotiated the US$500 million in sovereign bonds that were recently issued by the Dominican Republic on the international market, stressed the receptivity that they received among the foreign investors. Gustavo Ferrero, an executive at Barclays and Roberto D'Avora from J.P. Morgan, said that the reason for the receptivity is that the Dominican Republic offers very interesting credit conditions for investors. They said that the bonds were placed on the market at 6.75% a year, the lowest interest rate for the country on the international market since the first bonds were issued in September 2001.

They said that the bond existed and had a 7.5% coupon, but the placement that the Dominican Republic carried out among investors was successful, with a premium value of more than 100% of face value. "The bonds were sold at US$103.545, and when the yield of these is calculated, with the 7.5% coupon, it implies an implicit rate of 6.95%," they said. They added that the premium was US$17.7 million above the nominal US$500 million, which means a percentage of 3.545%. Moreover they obtained US$8.5 million in accrued interest.

Meanwhile, a Central Bank statement cleared up the fact that the excess demand for the bonds "caused the placement cost to increase over par value, or price of emission, reducing the net financial costs for the country to 6.95%, below the coupon rate of 7.5%." According to the Central Bank, this means that the investors voluntarily paid a premium or additional sum of US$17,500,000, which the country received at the moment of placement, which made it possible that the net effective interest rate would be 6.95% and not 7.5%.

If you are considering investing in Dominican Republic Property as opposed to bonds, please contact us and we will be happy to help.

Parque Mirador provides a new oasis in Sosua

In what was a fairly unattractive car park, new life has been breathed into Sosua.  A new park overlooking the ocean on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, named Parque Mirador, Sosua, was inaugarated on Friday at the end of the 'street with no exit' (Calle sin salida), where the well known Waterfront Restaurant is located.   The opening ceremony was performed by Ilana Neumann, the Mayor of Sosúa, and was attended by representatives of the Jewish community, the founders of this beach town, in whose honour the park has been built. The beautiful park features a bar, restaurant, a Star of David at the centre and several seats.From these seats you have a beautiful view over Sosua bay.

Close to the park, you can find a synagogue and small but very interesting museum charting the history of the Jewish Settlers who were given refuge in Sosua following World War II.  The West Indies Real Estate Office is also close by in Calle David Stern.

If you are interested in Dominican Republic Property or specifically Sosua real estate, please contact us as we have over 25 years experience of serving this area.

The Dominican Republic has registered athletes in 24 sports for the Guadalajara, Mexico Pan Am Games this fall, 14-30 October, the Dominican Olympic Committee announced recently, as reported in Listin Diario. COD president Luis Mejia said 244 athletes were registered to meet the event's booking deadline, but the actual team could be smaller.

Mejia said that the Dominican athletes qualified to compete in badminton, basketball (men's), boxing, archery, equestrian events, fencing, gymnastics, handball (men and women), judo, sailing, skeet, swimming, track and field, table tennis, tae kwon do, volleyball, beach volleyball, weight-lifting and wrestling.

In the previous Pan Am Games that took place in Rio de Janeiro, the Dominican delegation won 29 medals (six gold, six silver and 17 bronze).

The type of sport that generally attracts people to the north coast of the Dominican Republic is more likely to be water based, with windsurfing, kiteboarding, surfing and diving all being very popular, especially in the tourist towns of Sosua and Cabarete. Swimming in the beautiful Atlantic ocean is, of course, another possibility.  West Indies Real Estate offers a fantastic range of Dominican Republic property for anyone who prefers to take their sport wet! Please contact us to discuss your property needs in this area, whether you are a buyer or seller.

Optimist Sailing Championship in Boca Chica

To prepare to host the 50th International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) World Sailing Championship (15-26 July 2012), the Santo Domingo Yacht Club will host a Pre-World Championship for the North American continent. The event is booked for 11-17 July in Boca Chica and around 100 young competitors from the Americas are expected.

The Optimist is the first sailboat for sailors wanting to learn to sail at an early age. Both the pre-world and the world events are organized by the Santo Domingo Yacht Club and the Dominican Optimist Association (ADO) with the support of the Dominican Sailing Federation. Andrea Garrochategui de Pacheco is the president of the tournament organizing committee.

If you would like to know more about leisure and tourism business opportunities in the Dominican Republic, including a marina, please contact us to discuss what is available in this wonderful tropical island.
 

Positive statement by IMF

According to the latest forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economies of Latin American and the Caribbean will grow strong again this and next year.

The Dominican Republic is placed second in Central America and  the Caribbean, closely following Panama, in terms of anticipated growth , with a forecast rate  of 5.5% for both 2011 and 2012. 

The report states that Central American and Caribbean growth is restrained because of the links with the slow growing economy of the USA.

This positive outlook is just another reason to consider Dominican Republic Real Estate.

Please contact us to discuss all your property needs in this highly desirable destination in the Caribbean.

Cabarete still the windsurfing capital of the Caribbean

Doing business with the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth Business Council in London and the Round Table of the Commonwealth in the Dominican Republic signed an agreement this month, during the Caribbean Investment Forum held in Trinidad & Tobago, for promoting investments and business between the Dominican Republic and the 54 Commonwealth countries around the world.

The Dominican economy and the Dominican Republic Real Estate market has fared better than that of many of its neighbours and larger, more prosperous countries during the recent world downturn. West Indies Real Estate shows just a selection of commercial listings on the website but, for your precise requirements, please contact us and we will be happy to act on your behalf in whatever capacity you need.

Plaza de la Salud has new affiliation with Johns Hopkins

The General Hospital Plaza de la Salud in Santo Domingo has announced an affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) of Baltimore, Maryland, USA to follow up on Dominican patients. Johns Hopkins experts provide educational and consulting support to the affiliate's clinical and administrative staff to keep them on the cutting-edge of medical research, clinical techniques and equipment, hospital management and health system operations.

West Indies Real Estate also reported some time ago on the opening of a new clinic,   Centro Medico Cabarete, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, which is serving the population in the Sosua and Cabarete areas and beyond.

Dominican economy has a positive outlook

Standard & Poor's have raised the credit rating of the Dominican Republic in local currency and foreign currencies, going from B to B+ and stressing the improvements achieved in the debt structure and its economic growth.

According to Listin Diario, S&P said that "prospects were stable" as they also improved the evaluation of transfers and convertibility to BB from BB-. S&P said that continued growth will be helped by the reopening of a key nickel mine this year and the planned 2012 production start at Barrick Gold's Pueblo Viejo gold project, the Dominican Republic's largest foreign investment project. Nonetheless the risk assessment agency warns that "Despite buoyant economic growth, fiscal challenges persist as revenue collection lags behind the economic expansion". S&P expects growth to be 5.5% this year.

In turn, Moody's Investors Service rates the Dominican Republic at B1, the same level as S&P's new rating. Both have a stable outlook while Fitch Ratings has put the country one notch lower at B with a positive outlook.

The Fernandez administration is about to make a new US$500 million sovereign bond placement.

West Indies Real Estate is especially well-equipped to work with Investors; please contact us for more information.

Looking for a place in the sun?

The Weather Department (ONAMET) confirms that a heatwave is affecting the Dominican Republic. The forecast is for temperatures of up to 31 degrees Celsius in Santo Domingo, chilling off to 22C in the early morning. Onamet is forecasting hot temperatures nationwide, with little rainfall. The humidity in the air, nevertheless, makes it seem even hotter.

The department said that this summer temperatures could peak at 38 degrees.  However, on the north coast we enjoy constant breezes making tropical living very pleasant indeed!

If you are looking for a vacation getaway in the sun or a permanent home in the Caribbean, West Indies Real Estate has listings for all tastes and budgets.  Please contact us and we will be happy to help.