PPP project Dominican Republic: it's rolling

A lot of skilled hands have been working for a year now to complete the 'Ecological Centre' which will be opening its doors in October 2014. In recent weeks, the paths and the prospective course of the stream have been marked out with pebbles and stones. Wooden bridges have been built where the stream is to be crossed by visitors. They feature as part of the tour which passes through different stages on the site.

Next up is the construction of a 600m2 greenhouse, in which various crop plants such as peppers, salad and beans are to be grown. It aims to bring future visitors closer to organic methods of cultivation in an illustrative as well as practical manner. The yields will be sold on the market in the large neighboring town of Santiago, where, unlike in the small town of Mao nearby, there is a high demand for organic products. A further aim is the completion of the third trial field for bananas as a means to research and breed resistant types of organic bananas. BioTropic is working with the ISA University in the Dominican Republic in this area.

The photovoltaic system that has been up and running for several months is incidentally a huge success: with an output of 7.5 kWh, it has already reduced the electricity bill for the Dominican BioTropic office by a remarkable 60%. Want to take a peek?
live action photovoltaic system


by Visnja Malesic
photos: BioTropic