Quality of infrastructure in Dominican Republic

[...Get Full Access to the Guide and Read All Articles about DR...]

Dominican Republic is a small country; you may compare its size to some small European countries, like Slovakia or Switzerland. Now, you may think that with such small country's  area the task of building decent infrastructure is not hard. Sadly - in DR its not like that.

Dominican Republic is poor country (but still few times richer than its neighbour - Haiti), with small average income of average citizen. So the people here in DR earn some peanuts - money (how else could you describe fact that NOT EVERYONE is lucky to get a job... and IF THEY have it - not everyone earns 250 $/ month), yet they pay for internet, mobile and telephone calls and sometimes food - more than average person from EU or US. For example, the average price of mobile call here in DR is [...read more...]

Now lets talk about electric power infrastructure which is real disaster here in DR. Every day there are blackouts for few hours (every day ! sometimes they do happen on steady hours, sometimes they happen...whenever) in 95 % of country's area. The rest - 5 % are either government buildings in Santo Domingo, some luxury areas in said city, or resorts in Punta Cana and Bavaro area and some other Circuit - 1 areas. So - if you dont have [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]

Weekly ritual that I witnessed in some village in south-western Dominican Republic - "guy- repair-man" fixing electric pole. And he has been doing it - EVERY WEEK. Why ? Dont ask me, its DR 😉

There are few main reasons why the situation with electric power is like that. First of all [...read more, 60 % of content inside...]

There is a hope however. Domnican Republic has a lot of sun - which is excellent energy source. Now, to only create infrastructure of solar panels for every house in DR....Solar panels are not so cheap however - and only few people in DR can afford them (often expats). If you mount solar panels in your house and combine it with using only "smart" electric equipment, like energy- saving lightbulbs etc.- you are all set. But sadly - it is still not so popular solution for Dominicans due to its high initial cost.

And the last part of infrastructure in Dominican Republic (after internet,telephone& mobile access, and electricity) - the roads. Thankfully - they are in much better condition and lot is being done to improve them even more. In my opinion - that part of infrastructure is in the best condition and when I was in DR - every month I saw its improvement (like new roads being built, old roads being repaired etc.). So [...read more...]

 [...Real Dominican Republic - Best Places, Cheap Hotels, Living Cheaply in DR...]