The Dominican Republic is gambling it can turn one of its poorest and most remote regions — home to wild goats, a defunct bauxite mine and little else — into one of the Caribbean’s hottest tourist destinations.

Built from scratch near the Haitian border, the Pedernales-Cabo Rojo tourism project now under construction will include 12,000 hotel rooms, an international airport, a marina, a seaside promenade, and roads, sewage and electricity infrastructure to handle millions of visitors per year.

If all goes to plan, the estimated $2.2 billion public-private partnership will turn this lonesome stretch of the Dominican southwest, graced with national parks and pristine beaches, into a region to rival Punta Cana, the crown jewel of the country’s tourism industry. It’s also designed to keep th

See Full Page