Spanish
The Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (ASONAHORES) expressed its opposition to the recent approval, by the Chamber of Deputies, of the bill that modifies the General Law on Integral Management and Co-processing of Solid Waste No. 225-20, without the proper technical depth and impact analysis, warning about the risks that this reform represents for environmental sustainability, the competitiveness of the sector and municipal autonomy.
After a detailed analysis of the project, it warns that multiple approved provisions promote practices that are clearly monopolistic and directly affect the efficient management of solid waste, compromise the environmental commitments assumed by the country and the sector, and fragment the joint efforts between the public and private sectors.
This project, as approved, weakens waste management governance, disregards valorization operations of tourist complexes, jeopardizes international sustainability certifications, and creates scenarios of institutional uncoordination that would negatively impact the country's tourism competitiveness, in addition to mortgaging the state budget without a prior analysis of the economic impact on the national economy.
The guild warns about market concentration risks and violations of the constitutional principle of freedom of enterprise, promoting monopolistic practices by including limitations on the operation of multiple managers and restrictions on new valuation infrastructures, putting at risk the initiatives of the tourism sector for innovation through waste valorization.
He expressed his surprise at the inaction of Congress in the face of the adverse effects of sargassum and its impact on tourism, by not declaring this macroalga as waste and not establishing the possibility of valorizing it. Tourism and hotel investments allocate millions of resources to maintain and preserve the coast against the arrival of tons of sargassum and that the current regulations, by not considering sargassum as waste, do not allow mechanisms for its final disposal.
He also described as disproportionate the special contribution of companies for waste management, indicating that it should be based on the amount of waste they produce, otherwise they generate inequality. He added that in the case of establishing a fee based on the size of the company, it should never be based on gross income, as this creates a distortion of companies that only commission, as is the case of travel agencies and tour operators.
ASONAHORES calls on legislators to make future decisions based on a technical, open, plural, and participatory dialogue process, reiterating its willingness to work together with the authorities and other sectors, with the aim of building balanced legislation that promotes sustainable development, anti-monopoly practices, and the correct management of solid waste in the Dominican Republic.
