The Senate approves the appointment of Frank Rainieri to Tourist Boulevard

The Senate of the Republic approved this Tuesday in its first reading the bill naming the Eastern Tourist Boulevard after Frank Rainieri , the stretch of road between Punta Cana International Airport and the entrance to the municipality of Miches, in the province of El Seibo.

Previously, the Tourism Committee accepted the technical team's recommendation to specify the exact location where the aforementioned stretch begins . In this regard, Senator Ginette Bournigal (Puerto Plata-PRM) submitted a favorable report , and the assembly unanimously approved it with the 25 senators present.

The seven-article, four-page law was left pending a full reading at next Thursday's session . It could become law that day, as it was approved with a majority of votes in favor in the Chamber of Deputies . It was proposed in that chamber by ruling party legislator Francisco Villegas, representing La Altagracia.

More than a decade ago, the founder of the Puntacana Group was one of the promoters of the construction of the boulevard , whose objective was to shorten travel time and boost tourism in Miches , a municipality of El Seibo.

Since the route was inaugurated in 2013 by the then president of the Republic Danilo Medina , in that demarcation the success of Punta Cana has been emulated, with the foundation of hotel projects , promoted under the public-private partnership model.

One of the law's preambles mentions the journey to transform what was once Punta Borrachón into the Punta Cana of today. It all began in 1969, when Rainieri, along with American Theodore Kheel, acquired a 58-square-kilometer plot of land , on which they built a hotel called the Punta Cana Club, which opened two years later.

In 1979, they built the Punta Cana Hotel and, in 1984, the Punta Cana Airport , the main airport in the country, which received 4.9 million tourists in 2024.

Article six of the bill stipulates that the Ministry of Tourism shall be responsible for promoting the Frank Rainieri Tourist Boulevard nationally and internationally and that the Ministry of Public Works shall allocate all necessary funds to implement the name change .

The bill could be approved on Thursday. Once approved on second reading , the Legislative Secretariat of the Upper House sends it to the Executive Branch for promulgation by the President Luis Abinader. Once he signs it, the section will be renamed Frank Rainieri Tourist Boulevard .

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