The Guaigui dam project, located in La Vega province in the Dominican Republic, has been in the works since 2001, although its environmental impact study was presented in 2002 (Pro-Ambiente J&M S.A.) and its environmental license was issued in 2003 (License n. 0044-03). The project costs were initially estimated at US $42.5 million. In 2003, NCC, the Norwegian firm building the dam, halted its construction due to disagreements with the Dominican government over costs. The company stepped out of the project altogether in 2005. Since then, new attempts have been made to resume construction. In the end of 2005 a contract was awarded to Italian-Dominican consortium Impregilo-Yarull. However, the Dominican government failed to secure funding since it was unable to take out loans due to a limit set in place by the IMF on the amount of debt that the government could take on.  In June 2007, ABN AMRO ultimately decided to discontinue the loan initially contracted in 2000 and further renegotiated in 2005-2006. In October 2011 the Dominican government announced the project was soon to recommence with funding from Deutsche Bank and the Dominican government at a total cost of US$ 115.3 million.  

The project consists of a dam, a hydroelectric power station, and electricity transmission lines. The dam is designed to be 70 meters high, 200 meters long, and will have the capacity to hold 50 million cubic meters of water, although the 2003 license authorizes 800,000 cubic meters. The power plant would have an installed capacity of 2.0 MW and the reservoir would supply water to 600 hectares of agricultural lands (Sercitec 2010). Project objectives would include providing the town of La Vega with potable water, and control flooding of the Camu river. The government has additionally stated it plans to promote tourism around the reservoir area, although the characteristics of the reservoir make that option unviable. Because the main objective of the dam is flood control, necessary changes in the water level will result in creating aesthetically unappealing shorelines, thus reducing tourist appeal (FIVAS, 2002).

The construction of the dam has met the opposition of Dominican citizens and residents of the area. Opponents claim that the primary motivation for the dam's development is to create business opportunities around tourism and recreation for a few privileged local business owners. This would explain why the government plans to expropriate approximately 22 km2 of lands while the reservoir is expected to occupy an area many times smaller, around 2.8 km2. The communities' fears are confirmed by a study commissioned by the Dominican government in 2010. The study affirms that: "Considering that the people in the area of influence, especially those with properties adjacent to the future reservoir, have shown their interest in participating in tourism activities that can be developed, it is considered of importance to the project's socioenvironmental management, clearly defined activities that could be performed on the banks of the reservoir" (Sercitec 2010, p. 199). The construction of the dam will affect at least 500 families of small coffee farmers in three surrounding communities founded over 150 years ago. At least 129 of these families will be forcibly displaced and have no guarantee they will be adequately relocated. None of the affected communities have been adequately consulted or informed on the dam and its impacts, as the Dominican government decided they had "no capacity to understand the technical details of the project". This statement (originally in Spanish: "En la parte técnica supongo que los afectados no estarían en condición de asimilar aspecto técnico…") was made by INDRHI engineer Romer Polanco at a public hearing held on February 8, 2006.

Many opponents of the project assert that the advantages proclaimed by the Dominican government are overstated and made without any scientific basis or quantifiable calculations. The approved project does not match its stated objectives, and no alternative project has ever been considered. The risks would be increased by the geological characteristics of the area since the project is located near the Bonao Fault.

The project is an initiative of the Dominican government and is being overseen by the National Hydraulic Resources Institute, INDRHI. Additional project stakeholders (past and present) include: Norwegian construction firm NCC; Italian-Dominican consortium; Impregilo-Yarull; Norwegian consultants Sweco Groner and Norplan; Norwegian Export Institute GIEK; the Copenhagen branch of ABN AMRO; and Deutsche Bank.