Dominican Republic preparing to call tender for Monte Grande irrigation system

The Dominican Republic's government is advancing with works to connect the Monte Grande reservoir to surrounding land and will soon launch a tender for the irrigation system, according to water resources institute (Indrhi).

Indrhi’s executive director, Olmedo Caba Romano, said during a meeting with local residents and officials this week that the bidding process to build the irrigation system to take water to Bahoruco and Barahona provinces will published shortly, although he did not mention a specific date, local media reported. 

In March, Caba Romando said that financing for the water pipelines had already been secured, the construction of which would take around 24 months, but the associated bids have not yet been published. 

The Monte Grande dam is 2.2km wide and the reservoir has capacity to store 350Mm³ of water taken from the Yaque del Sur river. The project was created almost 15 years ago and was finally inaugurated in January this year after many delays mostly due to funding and administrative issues.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) reportedly contributed a US$250mn loan to build the project, but it is still unclear if Cabei will finance for the remaining works. The original cost of the dam was put at US$354mn, but it is thought to have easily surpassed US$620mn. 

Inhabitants of Las Yayas de Viajama municipality have recently complained to local media about the reservoir flooding surrounding land.