President Leonel Fernandez announced yesterday that he would be meeting with all sectors involved with the national energy system to analyze the problem and seek a joint and definite solution. Listin Diario reports that the meeting will take place next week to follow up on decisions adopted previously.
Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of the National Business Council, urged the government to apply the General Electricity Law.
As reported in Listin Diario, she explained that the blackouts and the high cost of power are the principal obstacles to competitiveness of companies in the DR. She said that before talking about an electricity sector reform, what the government needs to do is to apply the law. She says that measures to reduce the number of consumers who do not pay for power used needs to be taken, and that this irregularity is the main cause of the power problems. Viyella de Paliza advocated strengthening regulation. She joined sectors that have criticized the Superintendence of Power continues for violating the General Electricity Law. The government has been lax at demanding that the power distribution companies increase collections, and instead has resorted to increasingly higher subsidies to make up for those who do not pay. To make up for the deficit, the government has also allowed power rate increases that are now penalizing the productive sector to a point where many businesses have been forced to shut down.
As reported in Hoy newspaper, the Superintendent of Electricity says that the power distributors are billing only 60% of the energy that they serve due to the large-scale fraud and theft that plagues the system. He said that of that 60%, they only collect 90%, or for every two megawatts put on line, they recover only the cost of one. He said there are an estimated 600,000 households in the country without electricity meters. He said the biggest challenge for EdeEste, EdeSur and EdeNorte, the three power distributors, is to increase their paying clients.
He commented that the culture of not paying for power has increased, while there has been a laissez-faire approach by the power company managers in tackling this problem, and we are all paying for this, he says. He said that the distributors needed to make the necessary investments to segregate paying from non-paying clients, so that those who pay receive power 24 hours a day and those who do not, do not receive the service. In his opinion, the distributors have to invest in systems that distinguish between paying and non-paying consumers living in the same area.
Lawyer Marisol Vicens is recommending that the government depoliticize its decisions regarding the electricity sector. In a feature in El Caribe, she points out that the government has lost two years in starting to resolve the power problems, and that on the contrary, many actions that have been taken have weakened the sector's fragile institutionalism even further. She says that the Adam Smith firm hired by the government for a new diagnosis of the sector, concluded what others have said in the past. Their conclusions included the separation of politics from decision-making regarding the electricity sector. She says that in the name of politics, several questionable contracts have been signed, to the heat of electoral urgencies, and the nation has not been able to end the culture of non-payment and theft of energy or establish a strong and independent regulatory organization whose decisions are based on the law, and which does not bend to the tune of politics. She says there has been an apparent resistance to taking such decisions.
She points out that the present authorities decided to bet on new contracts for purchase of power calling for the construction of coal plants and presented this as the big solution. She points out that their construction has not yet started, and mentions that there have been complaints that these contracts have been awarded in similar terms to the much criticized older contracts, that are still waiting to be renegotiated to rid them of over generous privileges.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations has complained strongly to the Spanish Foreign Ministry in reaction to public statements by outspoken Spanish Ambassador to the DR Almudena Mazarrasa, who stated that there is a "cloudy" climate of justice security that hinders foreign investment. The Dominican Ministry has asked Spain to take measures aimed at putting a definite and effective end to what they described as the ambassador's "decidedly defiant and disrespectful" actions. The ministry considers that the statements by the diplomat - who said that disrespect towards the law, the non-enforcement of agreements, and institutional corruption are keeping foreign investment away - constitute an insistent and defined hostility towards the people and government of the DR. The ministry's communique also expresses its discontent because Mazarrasa did not use the corresponding diplomatic institutional channels to express her criticisms. Diario Libre reports that the diplomat made similar statements last March, when Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso called her to his office and asked about the specific cases of Spanish investors who had decided against investing here due to legal obstacles and a lack of institutionalism. At that time, Mazarrasa also had to meet with President Leonel Fernandez at the Presidential Palace. The Ministry of Foreign Relations remained quiet when similar statements were made by French Ambassador Cecile Pozzo di Borgo last Monday. The British and Canadian ambassadors have also made similar statements without an official reaction.
Executive Branch Legal Consultant Cesar Pina Toribio says that the country has a legal framework that guarantees foreign investment and stated that the French and Spanish ambassadors had not acted tactfully when referring to the issue. According to a report by Diario Libre, he asked the diplomats to present their complaints to the corresponding authorities. He said that ambassadors Almadema Mazarrasa and Cecile Pozzo di Borgo are committing excesses and performing a weak service for the alleged investors who are claiming the attention of their embassies, as well as to national authorities.
An additional RD$22 million were allocated to the Ministry of Public Health to be used to control dengue, which as of Tuesday this week had killed 26 people, according to official data published by Diario Libre. Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez informed that the virus causing the illness is more lethal than in previous years, which is why there have been more deaths compared to 2005, when 18 died of the mosquito-borne disease.
The First Ladies who are meeting in the Dominican Republic next month will pledge their support to promoting the social policies executed by government and civil society in favor of families in the region. El Caribe reports that this commitment is contained in a statement which will come out of the meeting, which will take place from the 6th to the 8th of September, according to Clariza Leon, the International Coordinator of First Lady Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez's office. Leon said that the VI Meeting of First Ladies of Central America, Belize, Panama and the Dominican Republic will offer support to the social policies of the region's governments, particularly in relation to the family, children and human rights.
In June and July, the government allocated more funds to the Santo Domingo metro construction than to the Ministry of Public Works, which builds projects around the country, as reported by Hoy. Information provided by the National Budget Office states that the Office for the Reorganization of Transport (OPRET) was assigned RD$160 million in June, whereas Public Works received RD$100 million. Last July, the Metro used up RD$303.9 million and Public Works received RD$290 million. The first line of the Metro will go from Villa Mella to Centro de los Heroes, a 14.2-kilometer stretch. Until 31 May, the project had used up RD$2.51 billion, most of which was spent on the Villa Mella line.
Under the banner of The Republic of Colors, the Dominican Ministry of Tourism has launched a promotional campaign featuring advertising on 600 yellow cabs in New York City. The same campaign is being unveiled at 300 subway stations and eight of the leading US airports. The campaign is under way in Miami, New York, Houston, Chicago, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Boston, all cities with direct flight connections to the DR.
Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier has called a meeting to discuss the proposal to exclude the Colonial Zone and other tourist areas from the curfew imposed on the sale of alcoholic beverages. The institutions that will be meeting are the Ministry of Culture, the Monumental Heritage Department, the National District City Hall, the Association of Restaurant Owners of the Colonial Zone, a representation of the neighborhood associations and the office of Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez. The meeting will take place when the Tourism Minister returns from a trip to the United Kingdom.
Canadian mining company Barrick, a world leader in the gold industry, took control of Pueblo Viejo Corporation (formerly Rosario Dominicana) when it purchased multinational Placer Dome, also a Canadian firm. The transaction began last year and is in its final phase, according to Diario Libre. Barrick has 27 mines in operation and projects in five continents. This is the third large Canadian company to change ownership in the country. The other two are Verizon Dominicana and Falconbridge.
Santiago's City Council has called for a day of "Municipal Mourning" following the death of businessman Eduardo Leon Asencio, who will be buried at 3:00pm today. Leon died of a heart attack in the United States last Sunday. The City Council's declaration also ruled that all flags in the municipality should be flown at half-staff.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz will remain in the Massachusetts General Hospital until today as a precaution, and will undergo further medical tests, as reported by the team. Ortiz had felt palpitations at the beginning of the month and again before last Sunday's game in Oakland. He returned to Boston for tests. Ortiz was admitted to the hospital on 19 August for a complete examination. According to the results, he was given the OK to play again once his condition improves.
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