SANTO DOMINGO.- The construction of the first stage of the Sans Souci mega-port’s terminal is more than 90 percent complete and it’s expected to open in September, to receive more than 80,000 tourists in the next cruise season, which begins in October.

The port’s construction costs about US$43 million, including the work in the Don Diego terminal, and the Ozama river’s dredging and cleanup, the signaling and navigation systems, as well as the handling of solid waste and the Santo Domingo terminal’s maintenance, said Sans Souci Tourist Investments executive director Luis Molina.

He said the modern terminal is part of the tourism project by a group of Dominican investors, and entails the port’s remodeling and conversion into a tourist destination, the construction of a marina and a real estate complex on lands where the Navy’s headquarters currently operate, which are being developed since 2005. "The strategy has been to motorize and make the port operational, because it begins to reveal a change in the lower part of the Colonial Zone and what a new tourist destination would be, in the city of Santo Domingo."

Terminal operations director Ricardo Lopez said entry and exit control and baggage handling will be in the first floor of the 3-story building; the immigration area on the second, while the third floor has a footbridge for passengers to board the ships, which he said  cost more than 1 million dollars.

As to the Sans Souci Group’s goal for the next cruise season, Molina said they expect the 70,000 tourists who arrived by sea last year to reach 82,000. "We have projected 82,000 tourists for the coming season, but we project having more than 125,000 in 2010."

The Sans Souci Investments executive said the goal is to a reach 150,000 tourists per season soon as possible, because it shows the consolidation of the name and most importantly to operate the port with cruise ships year-round.