Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
private rail companies serve the sugar industry, the largest of
which is the Central Romana.
Of the fourteen seaports in the Dominican Republic, only
five are considered major ports. Santo Domingo is the largest,
handling about 80 percent of imports. The other three on the
south coast are Haina, Boca Chica, and San Pedro de Macoris;
the fifth major port is Puerto Plata on the north coast. In 1992
the country had a merchant fleet of 12,000 gross registered
tons. Containerized shipping is widely used, mainly originating
in Miami and New York. Port facilities were expanded and a
new breakwater was opened in 1997 at Haina, which handles
about 65 percent of maritime cargo traffic. An enlarged cruiseliner
berth at Santo Domingo has made it one of the region's
major berths for cruise ships. In 1998 the government granted
a concession to a joint-venture company to build an even larger
port to be used by the free-zone enterprises.
The Dominican Republic has five international airports:
Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana, and
Barahona. A sixth airport was under construction at Samana in
1998. Puerto Plata and Punta Cana are the main airports for
charter flights; Las Americas in Santo Domingo is
the airport
for scheduled flights. The government announced in September
1998 that for the first time it would grant concessions to
upgrade and operate the international airports at Santo Domingo,
Puerto Plata, Barahona, and Samana. Thereby it hoped
to reduce maintenance costs by RD$230 million annually and
also shift much of the needed investment to private firms. The
government intends to draft similar plans for the country's
ports. Passenger arrivals on scheduled flights exceeded 1.45
million in 1995, compared with 632,000 on charter flights.
American Airlines is the dominant carrier, with a market share
of more than 50 percent on routes to many United States cities,
but mostly Miami and New York.
Communications
One of the most modern and dynamic sectors of the Dominican
economy is the telecommunications industry, which surpasses
its counterparts in most Latin American and Caribbean
nations in terms of technology. Telecommunications services,
however, tend to be concentrated in urban areas. The government
opened the telecommunications sector to competition in
1990. Since then it has become the fastest-growing element in
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