Higüey. – The bishop of the Diocese Nuestra Señora de La Altagracia, Jesús Castro Marte, led this Wednesday the presentation of the book “Strategic Plan La Altagracia 2030”, in an event held at the Museum of La Altagracia that was described as a historic event for the province.
The activity was organized by the Bishopric and the Altagraciana Strategic Alliance (ALTES), bringing together national, provincial, and municipal authorities, as well as representatives from the tourism, business, academic, and civil society sectors.
During the event, Ana Fulvia Valdez, president of the Civil Commission for the Development of La Altagracia (Cocdepal), highlighted that this plan constitutes “a starting point” to guide the development of the province in the coming years.
He explained that the initiative was built through a broad participatory process that involved 525 institutions and more than 2,700 people, through 225 meetings held between 2022 and 2024. Under a “bottom-up” working methodology, a retrospective and prospective diagnosis was developed until 2035, defining an initial vision for 2030 based on 25 strategic projects.
Valdez emphasized that, unlike other experiences such as that of Santiago de los Caballeros, in La Altagracia the plan was formulated first and then the structure in charge of executing it was created. In that sense, ALTES formally emerged, composed of 12 institutions representing all the territories of the province, including Higüey, Verón-Punta Cana, Laguna de Nisibón, La Otra Banda and San Rafael del Yuma.
In his intervention, the bishop of the diocese, Jesús Castro Marte, highlighted the importance of this initiative, noting that the presentation of a book with statistics and data projected until 2030 is fundamental for the development of the province and strategic decision-making.
On her part, the provincial governor, Daysi de Óleo, especially valued the content of the document in terms of health. From her training as a doctor, she highlighted the statistics presented in this sector as a key element for planning, underlining the importance of prioritizing the human rights of the municipalities of La Altagracia.
Likewise, Enoide Cedeño, director of the center of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in Higüey, expressed that the formulation of the plan represents a milestone in the construction of citizenship in a territory considered a model of national tourism development.
He indicated that the document is a science-based planning tool that will allow the different actors to make informed decisions about the future of the province, anticipating scenarios and promoting concrete actions in the short and medium term.
For his part, the author of the book, Julio César Corral, explained the details of the work, highlighting the need to know the orientation of the province for its development and clarifying the difference between a land use plan and a strategic plan.
“It gives us a lot of flexibility because no one tells us what we have to do. It’s a bottom-up construction. We are all protagonists,” he expressed.
Likewise, it was pointed out that these plans “are the umbrella of the land use planning plans” and serve as a model to define where the development of the province wants to be directed.
Among the authorities present were Bishop Jesús Castro Marte, Governor Daysi de Óleo, Ricardo Fondeur, president of the Strategic Development Council of Santiago (CDES); the district director of La Otra Banda, Alexander Rodríguez; the secretary of the Union of Entrepreneurs of La Altagracia (UEPAL), Ruddy Jiménez; the vice mayor of the municipality of Higüey, Pablo Ávila, and the director of the UASD Higüey campus, Enoide Cedeño, among other special guests.
The plan is the result of more than two years of consultation between technical teams and territorial actors, with the support of the Strategic Development Council of Santiago, whose experience was key in the process.
In ALTES, academic entities such as UASD Centro Higüey are added and articulated; business entities such as the Association of Cap Cana Property Owners, Ecoservices, Constructora González, Corporación Agrícola del Este and the Association of Nisibón Cattle Ranchers; and non-profit associations dedicated to social development, such as the Civil Commission for the Development of La Altagracia Province, AIB Foundation and Los Escuchas del Pueblo Altagraciano.
Organizations from the agricultural sector also participate, such as the Junta de Regantes de San Rafael del Yuma, and women’s groups such as the Asociación de Mujeres de La Otra Banda and the Federación de Mujeres Campesinas y Barriales Yumeras.
In this sense, ALTES validates the set of steps to realize the vision of territory that is aspired to achieve by 2030, marking the beginning of a new stage of articulated development for the province of La Altagracia.
