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President Mejia’s speech President Hipolito Mejia announced forthcoming increases of 28-132% for those with power bills in excess of RD$1,000 a month and consumption of 300 kilowatts per month or more. Businesses will not be excluded from the price hikes and should expect increases of about 40%. The President also announced the power rates would fluctuate according to monthly variations in the exchange rate, inflation abroad and the cost of petroleum. At the same time, President Mejia said that government departments will be obliged to pay their bills so as not to fall behind in arrears again. He also said that the government would be picking up the tab for 238 low-income communities. RD$100 million in power service over the span of 18 hours a day has been allotted for these areas. Also according to Mejia, negotiations have been completed so that the power generators sell directly to the power distributors and not to the CDE. He spoke of the contract negotiations also, mentioning the Smith Enron contract, negotiated during the Balaguer administration, whereby the government had to pay RD$65 million a month to the company, even after the plant shut down. The contract signed during the Fernandez administration with Cogentrix made provisions for the government-accrued monthly debt of RD$75 million, even in the event of a shutdown. To assist consumers in paying the increased bills, Mejia convened the National Wages Commission to meet and rule in a 7% increase in private sector salaries. He said a similar increase would apply to the public sector in January 2003. Understanding that the start of the social security system in November means increased costs for businesses, he said the implementation of the system would be postponed for most of the Dominican Republic so as not to coincide with the increases in power bills and the proposed salary hike. At the same time, the President expressed his support for the Superintendence of Power. He said the measures are transitory, as the Superintendence completes a study of power tariffs in the Dominican Republic that was recently commissioned. The study should be completed by the middle of next year. The Dominican Republic is said to pay the highest power rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. Privatization was supposed to result in lower power costs, but instead businesses and many residences have seen a tripling of their power costs. El Caribe newspaper editorial says that the conclusion to be drawn from the President’s speech is that there will be more power, but it will be more expensive. To read the entire speech, in Spanish, see http://www.presidencia.gov.do/Discursos/2002/170902/170902.htm | |||
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Money is the root of the problem Guillermo Caram, a former governor of the Central Bank and high-ranking spokesman for the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano, criticized the President for not attacking the root of the problem, which, he said, is financial. He believes the government should have announced concrete measures for cuts in government spending, which would produce enough savings for the state to pay its power commitments. He also criticized the government for passing on increased costs to the private sector at a time when bank interest rates and international conditions are unfavorable. | |||
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Ban on importing crashed cars As of September 27, a ban goes into effect on the import of damaged vehicles. Decree 671-02 establishes that cars in less than perfect condition would not be allowed to enter the country. The vehicles must be authorized to circulate in their country of origin prior to entering the Dominican Republic. This measure seeks to reduce money being spent on importing spare parts to repair the vehicles. To enter the country, vehicles now require an official document from the country of origin certifying that the vehicle meets standards to circulate in that country. Auto dealers lobbied for the new measure as their business was affected by hundreds of damaged cars (affected by fire, floods or crashes). After being repaired, the vehicles are sold as practically new but with attractive discounts. | |||
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Samana road construction Hoy newspaper reports on the fast pace of construction of the Santo Domingo-Rincon Molinillo highway. The Consorcio Autopista del Nordeste, the Colombian firm that won a bid for the highway in the Fernandez government, is responsible for the construction. The highway would connect Santo Domingo directly with Samana, reducing the distance by half. It will also connect the capital city to several towns and cities in the northeast. The 105-kilometer highway will pass through Bayaguana, Monte Plata, Sabana Grande de Boya, Majagual, Guaraguao and Villa Riva. Under construction are eight bridges and four overpasses. Works began on 15 July at Km. 18 of the Las Americas highway and the project is programmed for completion by mid 2004. | |||
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Focus on the trade agreements The Group of Dominican Professionals in Washington is sponsoring the panel discussion on The Integration of the Dominican Republic in International Trade Agreements. The panel will provide a forum for analyzing the main aspects of the country’s trade agenda, particularly the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) and the prospects for a free trade agreement with the United States. The event aims to reaffirm the perception of the country’s commitment to the international free trade process. It is being held as part of the Tenth Dominican Week in Washington, D.C. The speakers on the panel are: Hugo Guiliani, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United States, Miguel Ceara Hatton, advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Frederic Emam Zade, director of economic development of Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo, Stephen Lande, president of Manchester Trade LTD., and Isaac Cohen, president of Inverway LLC, USA. The event will take place at Georgetown University, in the Inter-Cultural Center Building on Saturday, September 28, from 9am to 12:30pm. For more information, contact Omar Arias at omara@iadb.org or see http://www.rvhb.com | |||
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Beauty queen jailed Former Puerto Rican beauty queen and Univision TV host, Laura Hernandez, was sent to jail along with seven other Puerto Ricans yesterday. The Puerto Ricans were jailed for the alleged trafficking of 70 kilos of cocaine in the Punta Cana area. Judge Raul Chevalier Corporan will prepare the case against Laura Hernandez, her husband Marcos Irrizary, and fellow Puerto Ricans Antonio Rodriguez Moraels, Jorge Ortiz Batista, Karla Michael Morales, Edwin Adams Coto, Arod Levi and Heidi Madee Romero. The court ordered the women to be held in the El Seibo jail and the men in Higuey, El Caribe reports. Laura Hernandez maintains her innocence and her lawyer, Jose Silvestre Lemoine, says that the drug was not found on her person or in her car, nor does she have ties to the other Puerto Ricans arrested. | |||
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Soriano is one homerun short Dominican Alfonso Soriano is just one homerun away from becoming the first second baseman in Major League Baseball history to hit 40 homeruns and steal 40 bases in one season. Alfonso Soriano batted his 39th homerun for the New York Yankees yesterday, despite losing the game to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays by a score of 7-5. The 24-year old Soriano has a batting average of .305 and is propelled by the competition between him and fellow-Yankees slugger Jason Giambi (.308). During the Wednesday game, Soriano was on a roll. He went 5-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored. Soriano is a leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player in the American League this season. One month ago, precisely on August 17, he hit his 30th homerun of the season, becoming the only second baseman in Major League history to hit at least 30 home runs and steal at least 30 bases in the same season. Then he tied the Yankees single-season record for homeruns by a second baseman, a record that had been set by Joe Gordon in 1940. He also became the second Yankee to reach the 30-30 levels, thereby joining the ranks of Bobby Bonds who had accomplished the feat in 1975. | |||
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