SANTO DOMINGO — In a major announcement for economic development in the Dominican Republic’s northern zone, Vice President Raquel Peña confirmed Saturday that construction on the long-awaited Amber Highway infrastructure project is slated to kick off in August. The transformative route will cut travel time between the high-population provinces of Santiago and Puerto Plata to under 30 minutes, with targeted goals of accelerating tourism, cross-regional commerce, logistics efficiency, and broad-based economic expansion across the 14 provinces that make up the country’s northern region.
Peña shared the update with reporters following a joint expanded working meeting hosted by the Association of Merchants and Industrialists of Santiago (ACIS), which gathered representatives from allied regional institutions, leaders from across Cibao provinces, and Eduardo Estrella, the head of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), alongside other key stakeholders.
“We are very pleased with the start of this project,” Peña told attendees, noting that the highway will unlock widespread benefits, sustained growth, and long-term development for the entire northern corridor. She emphasized that Santiago and the broader Cibao region are currently undergoing a period of robust economic and urban expansion, which has created urgent demand for upgraded infrastructure to meet growing population needs for mobility, interregional connectivity, and development support. The vice president also extended gratitude to the local private sector for its ongoing collaboration on the initiative, confirming that the national government is prioritizing public works investments that underpin regional growth through the construction and expansion of roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure assets.
According to MOPC Minister Estrella, the project is currently in the final pre-construction phase, with contract signing and stakeholder socialization underway with the firms that won the competitive bidding process. Back in early July, the Amber Highway Consortium SRL — a joint venture made up of four leading domestic construction firms: Ingeniería Estrella, Rizek Constructora, Magna, and Constructora Mar — secured the bid for the highway’s design and construction, awarded by the national RD Vial Trust.
To speed up project delivery, Estrella explained, three simultaneous construction fronts will be established: one working northbound from Santiago toward Puerto Plata, a second working southbound from Puerto Plata toward Santiago, and a third operating from the route’s midpoint, cutting total build time by leveraging coordinated multi-point work.
During the ACIS working session, Estrella also outlined the full slate of ongoing public infrastructure projects the government is rolling out across Santiago and the broader northern region, all designed to improve interregional connectivity, enhance road safety, and boost the global competitiveness of the Cibao area. Key priority projects highlighted include the expansion of the Navarrete ring road to four lanes, the widening of the existing Santiago-Licey highway, and new road connection works linking Moca and other nearby population centers.
On ongoing national paving programs, Estrella noted that MOPC currently has multiple work brigades operating simultaneously across Santiago, Puerto Plata, San Francisco de Macorís, and other northern provinces. He added that due to ongoing national budget constraints and global increases in construction material costs, all infrastructure interventions are being rolled out according to evidence-based technical priority criteria, to ensure the needs of communities across the entire country are addressed in a balanced, equitable manner.
ACIS President Marcos Santana, for his part, framed the cross-sector meeting as a sign of strong collaborative momentum. He noted that the participation of representatives from the northern region’s core productive, commercial, industrial, and service sectors demonstrates the clear commitment of the business community and organized civil society to work in coordinated partnership with the national government to advance initiatives that drive inclusive development across the Cibao region. Saturday’s gathering was organized in direct response to concerns raised by regional leaders during a prior working meeting held last week at the Vice President’s offices in the National Palace, putting collaborative problem-solving into action on a tight timeline.