President Abinader designates oversight commission for bidding on the Amber highway

Santo Domingo.- President Luis Abinader issued Decree No. 298-26, through which he designates a Citizen Oversight Commission to supervise the bidding process of the project “Design and Construction of the Connection Road between the Northern Ring Road of Santiago and the Puerto Plata–Sosúa Road, called the Amber Highway”. The commission will be made up of the bishop of the Diocese of Our Lady of Altagracia, Jesús Castro Marte, along with Franklin Báez Brugal, Pedro Silverio and José Radhamés García González, who will be responsible for overseeing, following up and monitoring the development of the bidding process. The decree, signed on May 1, 2026 in Santo Domingo, establishes this measure with the aim of strengthening transparency, accountability, and social control in a contracting process considered to be of high impact for territorial connectivity and the economic development of the country.

We recommend reading: President Abinader orders expansion to 4 lanes of the Ramón Cáceres highway at the request of Minister Andrés Bautista

According to the decree, this body may receive observations, complaints and suggestions from citizens, suppliers and organizations, as well as issue follow-up reports with findings that may be incorporated into the administrative file of the process. Furthermore, it is established that the institutions involved, including the Ministry of Public Works and the RD Vial Trust, must provide the commission with access to information related to the process, in accordance with the current legal provisions. The document specifies that the Commission will have a strictly observational character and will not intervene in the powers of the Procurement and Contracting Committee or in the evaluation of bids.   In addition, members must sign a code of ethics prior to the exercise of their functions, declaring their independence, the absence of conflicts of interest and their duty of confidentiality.